Representatives from across the Muslim world railed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Tuesday that he plans to extend Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley if elected on Sept. 17.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas threatened to terminate all agreements with Israel, saying, “We have the right to defend our rights and achieve our goals by all available means, regardless of the consequences, as Netanyahu’s decisions contradict United Nations resolutions and international law.”
The United Nations, for its part, released a statement to the effect that the annexation by Israel of the Jordan Valley would have no “international legal effect.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu wrote on his official Twitter account that Netanyahu’s pledge was “illegal, unlawful and aggressive.”
Turkey “will defend rights and interests of our Palestinian brothers & sisters [to] the end,” he added.
The Arab League issued a statement following an emergency session in Cairo saying it “considers [Netanyahu’s] announcement a dangerous development and a new Israeli aggression,” and that the Israeli prime minister was “declaring [his] intention to violate ... international law.”
“The League regards these statements as undermining the chances of any progress in the peace process and will torpedo all its foundations,” the statement said.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi took to Twitter to call the Jordan Valley plan a “serious escalation.” Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi called it “an ethnic-cleansing agenda.”
According to Saudi state news agency SPA, Saudi Arabia is calling an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to address Netanyahu’s statement, saying that it is a “dangerous escalation against the Palestinian people.”
