Middle East News

Jordan parliament: Netanyahu's ideas are extremist, racist

Jun 16, 2009, 20:50 GMT

Amman - Jordan's lower house of parliament on Tuesday categorically rejected the ideas set forth on Sunday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for peace with the Palestinians, calling them expressions of 'extremism' and 'racial policies.'. 'Netanyahu's speech goes too far in the dedication of the Zionist fortress theory and the policies of extremism that reject the logic of right and justice and violate the resolutions of international legitimacy,' the house said in a statement. The chamber was responding to Netanyahu's acceptance of a 'demilitarized state' and at the same time his refusal to discuss the issues of Jerusalem and refugees in any resumed negotiations with the Palestinians. The Israeli leader vowed that Jerusalem would remain the unified capital of Israel and called for settling Palestinian refugees who left their homes upon Israel's foundation in 1948 in other Arab states. 'Netanyahu's speech contained nothing more than a desperate attempt to evade the present landmark situation where Israel is coming under mounting world pressure for the establishment of just, durable and comprehensive peace in the region,' the Jordanian lower house said. 'The Israeli Prime Minister's speech is intended to create new circumstances that serve systematic occupation, expansionism, the usurpation of land, state terrorism and all forms of racialism and extremism,' it added. The house strongly supported the 'sacred right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes' and said that the return of East Jerusalem to Arab sovereignty would be 'inevitable'. Israel captured East Jerusalem along with the rest of the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.