Jordanian minister speaks out about sending Arab forces to Gaza

Jordan’s Foreign Minister, who has sharply criticized Israel’s war with Hamas, said that Arab troops will not go into Gaza. According to The Guardian, Ayman Safadi clashed with Joe Biden’s senior Middle East adviser on Saturday, saying a humanitarian pause should not depend on the release of hostages held by Hamas. US Representative Brett McGurk said the responsibility for releasing the hostages lies with Hamas as a way to increase humanitarian aid and halt the fighting.

The minister and American envoy spoke at a security summit in Bahrain, where Arab anger at Israel’s refusal to negotiate a two-state solution was repeatedly expressed.

Speaker after speaker told Israel that it would not achieve security through force.

At the same event, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he believed Israel could face charges in the international criminal court, adding: “One horror does not justify another.”

Safadi, in a blatant attack on Israel and its US backer, said faith in peace negotiations and international law was being eroded by the West’s refusal to rein in Israel.

According to him, trust in international law has fallen victim to its selective application. “If any other country in the world did even a fraction of what Israel did, it would be subject to sanctions from all corners of the world.”

The Jordanian minister said that even those who accepted that Israel acted in self-defense “continue to tell Israel to act within the framework of international law. This is not true, so what should we do next? Keep telling them to do it? They continue to refuse to do so. People are being killed every day.”

The Jordanian Foreign Minister emphasized: “International law must apply to everyone. The implication seems to be that Israel can do whatever it wants. This is what the world sees, that Israel is above the law.”

He also disagreed with Brett McGurk over the terms of the humanitarian ceasefire after a US official said the release of hostages held by Hamas would lead to a surge in humanitarian aid supplies.

McGurk argues that the path to a significant pause in hostilities lies through the release of the hostages. “If the hostages are released, you will see significant changes. The responsibility here lies with Hamas. This is the way. There will be a surge in humanitarian aid when the hostages are released,” he said.

Safadi called on Hamas to release the hostages but said no preconditions should be put forward for a humanitarian pause, arguing that 2.4 million Palestinians are being held hostage by Israel in Gaza.

He refused to join calls to equate Hamas with the Islamic State (ISIS is a terrorist organization banned in Russia). “It was not Hamas that created the conflict. The conflict gave birth to Hamas,” he said, adding: “You can’t bomb an idea that doesn’t exist. There will be no Arab troops in Gaza. Nobody. We are not going to be looked at as enemies.”

The Jordanian minister said that all Arab governments agreed on this and that any discussion of the future of Gaza was now impossible. “If that were the case, we would say to the Israeli government: ‘Do whatever you want. Go and destroy Gaza. Nobody is stopping you, and as soon as you finish, we will restore order.’ No, we won’t do that.”

He said Jordan would do “everything possible to stop” the displacement of Palestinians. “We will never allow this to happen; in addition to being a war crime, it would be a direct threat to our national security. We must all speak loudly and clearly about the disaster that Israel’s war is causing, not only for Gaza, but for the region as a whole. Now is not the time to choose words. Now is the time to state the facts as they are. Denying food, medicine and fuel to Gazans is a war crime and we must call it out.”

Bahrain’s crown prince, speaking at the summit on Friday, called on Hamas to release Israeli women and children held hostage, and for Israel to in exchange release Palestinian women and children from its prisons, who he said are not combatants. He said Palestinian elections were due, but did not specify a date.

Borrell said only the Palestinian Authority could control Gaza after the war. Israel insisted that the administration would play no role for several years and, in a show of its hostility, banned the Palestinian foreign minister from traveling to Bahrain to speak.