Jordan’s top diplomat says Netanyahu should not hold future of the region ‘hostage’ : NPR

Jordan’s deputy prime minister Ayman Safadi blames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for holding back peace talks in the Middle East as its fight with Hezbollah intensifies.

“Our message is that Netanyahu and his radical government should not be allowed to take the future of the region hostage,” he said in an interview with Morning Edition’s Leila Fadel.

Safadi and other world leaders are meeting in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly. His diplomatic visit to the U.S. comes as Israel continues its war in Gaza and as it carries out deadly airstrikes within Lebanon’s border.

Health officials in Lebanon say Israeli airstrikes have killed nearly 600 people in recent days. Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz posted on X “There will be no cease fire in the north. We will continue to fight against the terrorist organization Hezbollah.”

Jordan, a key ally to the United States, balances a unique position in the region. The kingdom borders both the occupied West Bank and Israel. The majority of its citizens are of Palestinian origin – many of whom fled or were expelled during the creation of Israel in 1948 and in the wars that followed. Jordan also has a long standing peace treaty with Israel and maintains good relations with Lebanon and the United States.

Safadi, who also serves as the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke to Morning Edition about his hopes for Gaza and the region.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Is the temporary cease-fire the Biden administration is seeking between Israel and Hezbollah achievable?

It could be if Israel decides to go along and stop this absurd killing. What’s on the table is a proposal for a temporary cease-fire, which would allow for diplomacy to take its course. However, we’ve seen the reaction from both the Israeli prime minister and his foreign minister, who unequivocally said they will continue with their aggression on Lebanon. And that, of course, would be to the detriment of the whole region because Israel is pushing all of us deeper into the abyss.

Now, Israel blames Hezbollah for starting the fight on that border. You talk about being pushed deeper into the abyss in the region. What’s getting in the way of the other cease-fire deal, the deal that would stop the violence in Gaza, return the hostages taken from Israel and bring the region back from the brink? 

Netanyahu. If you talk to the mediators, they’ll tell you that on July 2 they had a deal to which the Israeli mediators had agreed. But when they went back to Israel to get their cabinet approval, they came back with a complete reversal of commitments they had made. And obviously, the war continued and led to what we’ve always warned it would lead to: a regional escalation. We see that unfolding in Lebanon now, and our eyes are on the West Bank, where the possibility of explosion is getting higher by the day as a result of Israeli actions there as well.

Does Hamas have any blame to share in the impediment to the cease-fire deal?

I mean, obviously, I’m not saying that Hamas is not responsible also for where we are. But I’m saying we had a deal, Hamas had agreed to it, and Netanyahu reversed the commitments made by his negotiators.

You talked about the West Bank. Jordan borders the West Bank, where settler violence is on the rise and hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, thousands displaced. Are you concerned about the possibility of mass displacement from the West Bank into Jordan? And what is your country doing?

Look, everything we’ve been watching over the past few months and before indicated that Israel is systematically trying to create conditions that would push Palestinians out of the West Bank. To us, we said this is a red line. We will never allow the displacement of Palestinians into Jordan. Actually, at the UN a couple of days ago, His Majesty in his address to the General Assembly, made it unequivocally clear: Jordan will never be the homeland for Palestinians. Palestinians belong in Palestine, Jordan is for the Jordanians and will do whatever we can to prevent that.

Would Jordan be willing to take Gaza war refugees?

No, because Gazans have to stay in the country. We’ve shouldered the brunt of refugees before. We know that those who have left will never go back. Jordan is the largest per capita host of refugees anywhere in the world. We’re not talking about a temporary displacement here. We know from what we’ve seen in the past and from what Israel is doing, that Israel is making Gaza unlivable and inhabitable. And therefore it has a policy of emptying Gaza of its people. And we simply will not allow that to happen because that will only put the region on a course towards more destruction and future wars.

Jordan’s King Abdullah criticized the United Nations when he addressed the General Assembly. And you’ve urged the Security Council to stop the war. What actions do you want to see?

Had the Security Council acted in accordance with its mandate when the aggression in Gaza started, we would not be at this very dangerous moment right now. What we’re asking for is unequivocal resolution by the Security Council under Chapter Seven, urging both parties to end the war and start an irreversible path towards a peace that will bring security and safety for both Israelis and Palestinians. War will not achieve that. Israel will not have security unless Palestinians have security. Jordan is a peacemaker. We’ve had a peace treaty for over 30 years. So when we speak, we speak with the credibility of peacemakers. The two state solution, which the whole world agrees on, including the United States, is the path to a peace under which Israel will live, secure, accepted, normalized within the region. And Palestinians would have a life of dignity, freedom and will have their right to statehood fulfilled.

This Israeli government has violated international law, has killed humanitarian workers, killed more journalists than any war in recent history, killed more U.N. staff than any war in recent history. And yet it had faced no consequences. And what we’re saying to our friends and allies here in the states and elsewhere is that you’re not supporting Israel by supporting this Israeli government. What this Israeli government is doing is detrimental to the future of Israelis because the amount of hatred and dehumanization that have come out of this war will take generations to overcome and will take a major leap towards peace. So this government is hurting Israel, is hurting the region, is killing Palestinians, is putting the region on a very, very dangerous path towards total regional war.

And what is your message to U.S. policymakers at this moment? I mean, diplomatic efforts have so far failed, and the cease-fire on the table for Lebanon and Israel is also being rejected at this moment. What do you want the role of the U.S. to be in this moment?

Look, our message is that Netanyahu and his radical government should not be allowed to take the future of the region hostage. They should not be allowed to doom his people and Israel to war. So basically, we want consequences, we want implementation of international law, and we want action that will stop this war and put us all on a path towards peace that will, again, provide security and safety to both Palestinians and Israelis in the whole region.

What blame is there to share with Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas? 

War creates more war. Violence breeds more violence. What we’re saying is let’s stop. All will have a responsibility to stop this fighting. And if there is a cease-fire and if there is an end of this war, then trust me, all of us will go on against everybody and anybody who wants to drag the region back to war and conflict. Because everybody is paying a price and nobody benefits from escalation. So we want de-escalation, we want peace. But we have not seen yet any proposal on the table that will produce that. So we’re victims of this vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence.