Jordanian parliament opposed to recognizing Israel as a Jewish state

Statement of legislature in Amman follows debate over peace process; states support for Palestinian state along 67 lines.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
Jordan parliament 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed)
Jordan parliament 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed)
Jordan’s Lower House of parliament issued a statement on Saturday rejecting Israel’s demand to be recognized as a Jewish state.
The statement followed debate last week over the peace process and clarified the need for an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, Jordan’s Petra News reported.
The House called for the return and compensation of Palestinian refugees.
Israel’s government has made the Palestinian recognition of a Jewish state, one of its conditions for a deal.
In addition, any final agreement should take Jordan’s interests into account concerning refugees, Jerusalem, security, water, and settlements, it said.
The House also stressed that a Palestinian state should have full sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Islamic and Christian holy places – rejecting Israel’s actions in the city.
“Any change of the city’s demography is a blatant violation of international law and a gross breach of international resolutions,” read the statement, according to Petra.
"The House voices its appreciation and backing of the earnest efforts that Jordan, under His Majesty's leadership, exerts in defense of the Arab identity of Jerusalem, and its firm stand against all the Israeli measures and decisions aimed at obliterating Jerusalem's Arab-Islamic character, as well as the Zionist designs of hegemony and expansion carried out daily against Palestine, and Jerusalem in particular," said the statement.