Jordanian MPs: Break ties with Israel over Knesset proposal 29/05/2009
At least 15 Jordanian lawmakers on Friday urged the government to sever diplomatic ties with Israel in protest against debate in the Israeli parliament over regarding Jordan as an "alternative homeland" for the Palestinians. "The voting on the proposal by the Israeli Knesset proves that the Zionist mentality of the ruling politicians in Israel does not believe in peace and has no respect for the peace treaties and UN resolution," the pro-government National Democratic Bloc at the lower house of parliament said in a statement. The group, which includes 15 deputies, considered last week's discussion in Israel's Knesset "a violation" of the peace treaty, which Jordan concluded with Israel in 1994. The group said Jordan's response should be the "dismissal of the Israeli ambassador and withdrawal of the Jordanian envoy" from Israel. The proposal depicting "two states for two peoples on the two banks of the River Jordan" was put on the Knesset's agenda by MK Aryeh Eldad from the far-right National Union-National Religious Party. The Knesset voted to refer the suggestion to one of its committees for further review. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh summoned Israeli's ambassador in Amman earlier this week and handed him a strongly-worded protest that "categorically rejected" the Knesset move. Judeh reiterated Jordan's stance envisaging the creation of an independent Palestinian state on all territories that Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, including East Jerusalem, under the two-state track supported by the world's leading powers, including the United States and the European Union. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1088969.html
