AMMAN — The shocking victory of a coalition of extremist
Zionist far right and religious right parties led by Likud’s
Benyamin Netanyahu in
Wednesday’s Israeli elections is bound to threaten Jordan-Israel relations,
especially with regard to the status of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem,
political analysts interviewed by
Jordan News said.
اضافة اعلان
According to the latest results of the elections for the 25th Knesset, the
Netanyahu camp has secured more than 65 places in the 120-seat legislature,
which gives him a comfortable majority to form the next government. Final
results are expected late Wednesday or early Thursday.
Marwan Al-Muasher, former foreign minister, told
Jordan News that the
results of the
Israeli elections indicate clearly that Israel “is not serious
about the peace process or about finding any solution that would result in the
withdrawal from the occupied territory and the establishment of a Palestinian
state”, adding that “we should drop any illusion, from this point on, about the
prospects for peace”.
“The incoming prime minister is somebody that Jordan, the region, and the
whole world have serious problems with,” Muasher said, and called for
reevaluating the Jordanian position, as well as the international position,
regarding peace in the region, and dealing with a right-wing government that
ends any hope for a just and peaceful solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Senator Jameel Al-Nimri told
Jordan News that Jordan “has bad
memories with Netanyahu and his comeback constitutes a great disappointment for
Jordan”.
With regard to peace, Netanyahu “will pursue the agenda of the the extreme
right”, which rejects the two-state solution, he said.
“Netanyahu’s return to the government will trigger a greater settlement
expansion,” he said.
Political analyst Hamadeh Faraaneh told
Jordan News that
Netanyahu’s return to government “is not surprising, and we do not need a great
effort to guess what he is planning to do” .
With regard to the 1948 Palestinians, the so-called Israeli Arabs, who
make up to 20 percent of the population, he said the new government will
entrench the concept of a pure Jewish state, which will make it worse for the
minority Arab citizens who will lose their fundamental rights as the
ultranationalists will consolidate the policy of discrimination.
“As for the West Bank, Netanyahu will bury the two-state solution and may
go as far as to reduce the powers of the Palestinian Authority,” Faraaneh said.
“These are his declared policies and his allies are among the most extreme in
the Israeli society,” he added.
Netanyahu’s policy is not consistent with that of Jordan, so ties between
the two countries are bound to be in a state of continuous tension, Faraaneh
said.
Political analyst
Oraib Al-Rantawi told
Jordan News that
“Netanyahu’s victory was not surprising, as the Israeli right party and now the
far-right parties are dominating the Israeli political stage.
Moreover, Rantawi believes that violations of Jerusalem sanctities, over
which there is Hashemite custodianship, “have become more frequent than ever
before, due to the strength of the Israeli extreme right and its growing
demands to end the role of Jordan”, so the new government’s policy concerning
the holy sites in Jerusalem will not be much different from what it is already.
In the long run, Rintawi said, it makes no difference for Jordan who is
the prime minister of Israel.
“Netanyahu, Lapid and others, all threaten Jordan’s interests,” he said.
He
believes that now “all eyes will focus on how an extremist Israel will manage
its internal affairs while increasing settlement building and institutionalizing
racial discrimination”.
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