AMMAN: King Abdullah II of Jordan on Sunday reaffirmed his “absolute refusal” toward any efforts by Israel to annex the occupied West Bank during a visit to the UAE, the royal palace said.
The message came after several Israeli officials suggested that the country could proceed with the annexation of large tracts of the territory in response to moves by Western governments to recognize Palestinian statehood this month.
According to a palace statement, King Abdullah reiterated “Jordan’s absolute refusal of any Israeli measures aimed at annexing the West Bank and forcing Palestinians to leave.”
He also rejected any plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza or to separate the two Palestinian territories.
He was joined by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in expressing opposition to Israeli plans to expand settlements in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967.
They also rejected “Israeli plans aimed at perpetuating the occupation of Gaza and expanding military control.”
The UAE warned this week that annexation would be a “red line.”
The issue was a key point during the US-led negotiations for Abu Dhabi to normalize relations with Israel in the Abraham Accords of 2020.
The Jordanian king has on multiple occasions said that Jordan would never be a “substitute country” for Palestinians, amid suggestions from the US and Israel that third countries could take in displaced Gazans.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday warned that Western nations recognizing a Palestinian state could trigger “unilateral” measures by Israel.
Far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called this week for the West Bank’s annexation in response.
Jordanian king rejects any Israeli move to annex West Bank
https://arab.news/z2d3b
Jordanian king rejects any Israeli move to annex West Bank
- King Abdullah rejected any plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza
- UAE warned this week that an Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories would be a “red line”
Turkiye blocks aid convoy to Syria’s Kobani: NGOs
- They said the aid was blocked before it reached the Turkiye-Syria border
- “Blocking humanitarian aid trucks carrying basic necessities is unacceptable,” said the platform
ANKARA: Turkish authorities have blocked a convoy carrying aid to Kobani, a predominantly Kurdish town in northern Syria encircled by the Syrian army, NGOs and a Turkish MP said on Saturday.
They said the aid was blocked before it reached the Turkiye-Syria border, despite an agreement announced on Friday between the Syrian government and the country’s Kurdish minority to gradually integrate the Kurds’ military and civilian institutions into the state.
Twenty-five lorries containing water, milk, baby formula and blankets collected in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkiye’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, “were prevented from crossing the border,” said the Diyarbakir Solidarity and Protection Platform, which organized the aid campaign.
“Blocking humanitarian aid trucks carrying basic necessities is unacceptable, both from the point of view of humanitarian law and from the point of view of moral responsibility,” said the platform, which brings together several NGOs.
Earlier this week, residents of Kobani told AFP they were running out of food, water and electricity because the city was overwhelmed with people fleeing the advance of the Syrian army.
Kurdish forces accused the Syrian army of imposing a siege on Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab in Arabic.
“The trucks are still waiting in a depot on the highway,” said Adalet Kaya, an MP from Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM party who was accompanying the convoy.
“We will continue negotiations today. We hope they will be able to cross at the Mursitpinar border post,” he told AFP.
Mursitpinar is located on the Turkish side of the border, across from Kobani.
Turkish authorities have kept the border crossing closed since 2016, while occasionally opening it briefly to allow humanitarian aid to pass through.
DEM and Turkiye’s main opposition CHP called this week for Mursitpinar to be opened “to avoid a humanitarian tragedy.”
Turkish authorities said aid convoys should use the Oncupinar border crossing, 180 kilometers (110 miles) away.
“It’s not just a question of distance. We want to be sure the aid reaches Kobani and is not redirected elsewhere by Damascus, which has imposed a siege,” said Kaya.
After months of deadlock and fighting, Damascus and the Syrian Kurds announced an agreement on Friday that would see the forces and administration of Syria’s Kurdish autonomous region gradually integrated into the Syrian state.
Kobani is around 200 kilometers from the Kurds’ stronghold in Syria’s far northeast.
Kurdish forces liberated the city from a lengthy siege by the Daesh group in 2015 and it took on symbolic value as their first major victory against the militants.
Kobani is hemmed in by the Turkish border to the north and government forces on all sides, pending the entry into the force of Friday’s agreement.
