Jordan Called For World Efforts to End Israeli "Aggression"Jordan's House of Representatives, or lower house of parliament, has called for the world community to take immediate actions to stop what it called Israel's escalation of violence in the Palestinian territories."The world cannot remain a silent spectator of the war of extermination being waged by Israel against the Palestinian people... because this silence is considered a participation in the crime," Acting House Speaker Khalil Atiyyeh said in a statement dated on Sunday. Atiyyeh blamed right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for escalating violence in the Palestinian territories, which has left over 450 people dead, mostly Palestinians, since the Palestinian intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation broke out over six months ago. The deterioration in the occupied territories at the hands of Sharon has reached a dangerous point that demands urgent Arab, Islamic and international intervention, Atiyyeh said in the statement. He warned that "Sharon's brutal aggression is pushing the region to the threshold of an all-out explosion." Jordan has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinians though it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 as one of the only two Arab states, next to Egypt, to take such a peace move with the Jewish state. Amman believed that the Palestinian issue is the cornerstone for the peace process in the region, and the Palestinians must regain their legitimate rights, including the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. |
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