Jordan PM's comments on single state trigger uproar

Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Razzaz's comments to a British newspaper that the Hashemite Kingdom could view positively a “one-state democratic solution” to the Israel-Palestine dispute has created a stir at home, raising questions on whether the kingdom was abandoning its decadeslong commitment to the two-state solution as the only path to ending the conflict. British newspaper The Guardian quoted Razzaz in an interview published July 21 as saying that “Jordan could view favorably the creation of a single Palestinian-Israeli state, provided it gave equal rights to both peoples.”

“You close the door to the two-state solution; I could very well look at this positively if we’re clearly opening the door to a one-state democratic solution,” Razzaz said. But he added that he was ready to “challenge anybody from Israel to say yes, let’s end the two-state solution, it’s not viable. But let’s work together on a one-state democratic solution. But closing one and wishful thinking about the other is just self-deception.”

Razzaz also said Israel’s annexation policy would be “ushering in a new apartheid state” that could be a radicalizing force and could further destabilize the region.

This was the first time a senior Jordanian official has praised the single-state solution as an alternative to the two-state solution. King Abdullah II has been an ardent critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex major parts of the occupied West Bank, including the Jordan Valley. He has defended the two-state solution as the only path to ending the Israel-Palestine conflict.