Amman: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday discussed the “disastrous” repercussions of the war on Gaza and efforts to forge a firm international position to stop the war and “humanitarian catastrophe.”

The ministers also stressed the need to protect civilians and ensure the delivery of enough and sustainable humanitarian aid to the enclave.

In a joint press conference after their talks, Safadi said the Australian minister’s visit underlines the strong relations between Jordan and Australia and their common interest to further develop cooperation across many fields.

Safadi highlighted Australia’s support of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the two-state solution, referring to key decisions taken by the new Australian government, represented by Minister Wong, including the asserttion that the Palestinian territories are occupied land and that the two-state solution is the sole path f
orward to achieve a just and comprehensive peace, as well Canberra’s aid to UNRWA, the United Nations agency that serves Palestinian refugees, “which assumes a heroic role in facing the aftermath of the current Israeli aggression on Gaza.”

“The in-depth dialogue we had today focused clearly on efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire to end this aggression and the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe it causes,” he said.

Safadi said he briefed Wong on efforts led by His Majesty the King to end the Israeli aggression, ensure the entry of sufficient and sustained aid into the Strip and the return of displaced Gazans to their areas and homes, reiterating the Kingdom’s rejection of any attempt to displace Palestinians, whether from Gaza or the West Bank, outside their homeland.

Safadi also expressed Jordan’s unwavering position on the unity of the occupied Palestinian territories, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, and said any peace approach should envisage a comprehensive solution to end the conflict on
the basis of the two-state solution, an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state along the lines of June 4, 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital and living in security and peace alongside Israel.

Any proposal other than that will not bring about security and peace or stability to the region, he warned, adding that the security formulas adopted by Israel for over a decade have only increased tensions and killed any hope for peace and chances to achieve just, comprehensive and lasting peace.

“Every day that passes by without stopping this aggression, women, children and men of the Palestinian people will fall as victims. Gaza has been destroyed, and the scale of destruction it has witnessed is unprecedented in any war over the decades, as corroborated by international reports and the United Nations organizations that announced yesterday that Gaza is facing famine now due to Israel not allowing sufficient humanitarian aid into the Strip,” Safadi said.

“We all in the international community face a secu
rity, moral, and legal humanitarian challenge,” he said, warning that failure to face this challenge of ending the aggression and fulfilling the rights of the Palestinian people to security, freedom and a state will have grave repercussions not only on regional security, but on the credibility of the international order and the status of many regional countries, and will “take us to an inevitable future of more conflict, more wars, more violence, more oppression and deprivation.”

He said Jordan is continuing its efforts in coordination with friendly nations, including Australia, “so that we exit this disaster and put the region on a path of a just and comprehensive peace…, otherwise, the region will remain captive to conflict and extremist Israeli agendas.

For her part, the Australian minister said “it is a sensitive and important moment for the world and the region, with the ongoing conflict and human suffering.”

“My visit is an expression of the importance of these bilateral relations, and the role Jor
dan plays in the region, as it has been an anchor of stability and peace in the region,” she said.

“We are facing this humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and Minister Safadi mentioned international figures of the victims who are now in Gaza and suffering,” she said, adding that Australia is not a major party in the region, but it will play an important role and provide more aid.

Wong announced that Australia will contribute 21 million dollars in humanitarian aid in response to the crisis and to meet the humanitarian needs “in the conflict between Hamas and Israel,” calling for addressing the refugee crisis in which, she said, Jordan plays an important role.

Source: Jordan News Agency