RAMALLAH, Palestine, Jan 23 (NNN-WAFA) – The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, warned that, Israel’s plan to annex the Jordan Valley is “a devastating blow” to the two-state solution.
“It will be a devastating blow to reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations” if part or all of the Jordan Valley is annexed, Mladenov said.
Mladenov’s remarks came, a day after Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival, Benny Gantz, promised to annex the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, if they win the upcoming elections.
“Executing the plan will disrupt any peace progress in the region and undermine the substance of the two-state solution,” Mladenov noted.
The Palestinian Authority also warned that, executing the plan will undermine the signed peace treaties and drag the region into new tension.
The Jordan Valley, covering an area of about 400 square km, takes up 30 percent of the West Bank. Israel occupied the territory together with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in June, 1967.
A day earlier, Hamas, ruler of the gaza Strip, said that, annexing the Jordan Valley “will be a violation of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”
“The absence of regional and international pressures on the Israeli occupation, encouraged Netanyahu and Gantz to carry on with these violations,” Hamas said.
