Day: June 26, 2024

Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis received on Wednesday Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi, who concluded an official visit to Greece to discuss bilateral ties and efforts to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

Safadi and Mitsotakis discussed ways to develop bilateral ties in various fields, within the trilateral cooperation mechanism with Cyprus and within the framework of the European Union.

The meeting focused on efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire and end the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Safadi and Mitsotakis also covered efforts to adequately and sustainably deliver humanitarian aid to all parts of the Gaza Strip.

The Greek prime minister and the foreign minister discussed efforts to prevent the war from spreading to Lebanon and the West Bank, and efforts to launch an effective international action to end the conflict based on the two-state solution in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions.

Safadi conveyed His Majesty Ki
ng Abdullah’s greetings to the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, emphasizing his keenness to strengthen the partnership between the two countries.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent his greetings to His Majesty the King, underscoring the importance of relations with Jordan and expressing appreciation for His Majesty’s role in promoting peace, security, and stability in the region.

Earlier, Safadi met with his Greek counterpart, Giorgos Gerapetritis.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: U.S. Ambassador to Jordan, Yael Lempert, said the strength of the U.S.-Jordan partnership is in its breadth and diversity.

“Over seven decades, we have built solid ties that make both of our countries safer and stronger, advancing Jordan’s economic development, offering opportunities for women and youth, and strengthening education and health care,” Lempert told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) on the occasion of the 248th anniversary of America’s independence.

She pointed out that the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement signed in 2001 has strengthened trade ties between the United States and Jordan alike, creating over 85,000 jobs in Jordan.

Thousands of Americans visit Jordan every year, awe-struck by Jordan’s beautiful sites, and the U.S. is proud to work with Jordanian partners to restore and protect magnificent treasures like Petra and Wadi Rum,” Lempert said.

“I am honored to have called Jordan my home for the past year and so appreciate the warm hospitality I’ve experienced – I’m sure the first d
iplomat to lead our mission in Jordan experienced the same in 1949 when he arrived here,” Lempert added.

“I look forward to working with our Jordanian partners to continue to further advance and strengthen this vital partnership, building on 75 years of close cooperation between our two governments and our peoples,” the U.S. envoy said.

Lempert expressed pride in commemorating the 248th anniversary of America’s independence and 75 years of partnership with Jordan.

“Our greatest assets are our friends and allies, and nowhere is that more more true than here,” Lempert underlined.

The United States celebrates Independence Day on July 4 every year, in honor of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Source: Jordan News Agency

“The United Nations is unable to deliver aid because it is targeted, and the protection conditions that these organizations need are not provided by Israel. On the contrary, we have seen many UN aid convoys targeted in Gaza, and the number of humanitarian aid workers and employees in Gaza killed by Israel exceeded 200, about 193 of them from UNRWA, so for aid to reach, the obstacles that prevent it must be removed, and this lies in opening the crossings, bringing in enough aid, and enabling UN organizations to carry out their duty freely without the risk of being bombed or killed,” Safadi referred to the United Nations reports during the past two days.

“There is a new danger for which Israel is also responsible now, which is the collapse of order in Gaza, and Israel, as the occupying power, is absolutely responsible for every Palestinian child who dies of hunger, or a mother who dies for lack of medicine, or a family that loses its life because there are no hospitals for it, Israel is the occupying power, an
d it is the one who prevents the delivery of aid, and the steps required of it are clear and have been stated by UN organizations working in the field, but unfortunately these steps have not been implemented so far,” he added.

In response to a question, Safadi said, “The danger of expanding the war is real and increasing, and the only way to prevent it is to stop the aggression on Gaza, stop the escalation against the Palestinian people in the West Bank, reach a permanent ceasefire, respect international law, respect the UN Charter, and launch an action plan with a specific goal, the two-state solution, with clear timelines to resolve the conflict at its roots.”

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: “We will not clean up after Netanyahu, we will not send troops to Gaza to replace the Israeli occupation forces, and we will not deal with the catastrophic reality created by Netanyahu and his government and this aggression,” Safadi said.

“We want a comprehensive plan not only to stop the war but also to reach a just, comprehensive and lasting peace based on the two-state solution, and this basically means that any approach that deals with Gaza separately from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, cannot be accepted,” he emphasized.

Asked about initiatives aimed at delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, Safadi said, “A few days ago, His Majesty the King hosted the Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza” conference, jointly organized with Egyptian President El Sisi and the UN Secretary-General, and at that conference there was a real assessment by UN organizations of the challenges that prevent aid from reaching Gaza, and these chal
lenges are multiple; the first is that Israel prevents the entry of aid convoys adequately through many complications, and there are so-called lists of dual-use items that Israel uses as a pretext to prevent the arrival of basic needs for Gazans, and the second is that all land crossings must be opened for the entry of aid, and this has not happened so far, and we in the Kingdom have dealt with this reality through airdrops and have dropped many tons of aid in cooperation with our partners, including Greece, to meet the needs of the people. But as His Majesty the King said, this does not meet the minimum. The first step is to open all crossings and remove all obstacles to the entry of aid, and the second step is to ensure the delivery of this aid to those in need in Gaza, and this is not available.”

Source: Jordan News Agency

For his part, Gerapetritis expressed his country’s unlimited appreciation for Jordan’s position in protecting Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, effectively and actively, and in protecting multiculturalism and religious tolerance in a very sensitive region.

“Jordan has been fundamentally and significantly affected by recurring regional crises, and Jordan hosts millions of Palestinian refugees in its territory and generously and magnanimously provides a safe haven for them,” Gerapetritis said.

“In this tragic situation in the Middle East, Jordan has been working regularly, with commitment and moderation, to achieve peace and stability in the region and to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the most important recent initiative was to organize an international conference with Egypt and the UN Secretary General to send urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Gerapetritis added.

In response to a question about the ceasefire and peace in the region, US President Joe Biden’s plan, and Arab participation
in Gaza after or during the war, Safadi said: “A ceasefire is a permanent demand for us and our partners in the international community, and therefore we support every effort aimed at reaching an exchange agreement to reach a ceasefire, and we appreciate the efforts made by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to reach this deal, but we all heard what the Israeli Prime Minister said two days ago that he does not want a ceasefire and wants a temporary truce after which he continues the war, and this icontradicts with the essence of Biden’s initiative.”

“We call on all parties to work towards reaching a just deal that guarantees a permanent ceasefire and the release of all Israeli and Palestinian prisoners and detainees, as a step towards beginning to stop the humanitarian catastrophe imposed by the aggression on Gaza,” he added.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: “The danger of expanding the conflict regionally is worsening day by day with what we see in the escalation against Lebanon as well, and on the Israel-Lebanon borders, and all this pushes everyone to take immediate action, and we are ready in the Arab world to take immediate action, and we presented a joint Arab vision to a group of Arab countries that is based on the values, principles and constants that we all believe in, starting with stopping the aggression, passing to meet the humanitarian needs of Gaza and its reconstruction, stopping the illegal measures that undermine the two-state solution and kill opportunities to achieve peace, ending with the establishment of a Palestinian state to live in security and peace next to Israel,” he said.

“We are ready, and we look forward to Greece and to Europe and the European Union in particular, as key partners in this effort, and we are waiting for the European Union to form the communication committee and the working group that we agreed upon when we met
a number of Arab countries and the European Union in Brussels, to start implementing a plan to achieve peace,” Safadi emphasized.

He stressed that “Netanyahu and his extremist ministers cannot be allowed to take more measures that lead the future of the entire region to destruction Peace must be imposed, because this Israeli government does not want peace, and we want to work together, and we cannot allow the continuation of the catastrophic situation that we see and is worsening daily in Gaza, and cannot allow the continuation of measures that threaten to explode the situation in the West Bank and threaten to explode the conflict in Lebanon, and cannot allow the violation of international law and war crimes to continue without effective international action to stop them, because the victims of the Israeli aggression in Gaza and in the West Bank are not only the Palestinians who are displaced and losing their hope, their lives and their schools, but the credibility of international law and the standing of ou
r partners in Europe, in the United States and elsewhere is another victim of this obstructive status quo, and this is something we must act immediately to stop”

Source: Jordan News Agency