Israel is “playing with fire” in expanding Jewish settlements in annexed Arab east Jerusalem and attempting to alter the Holy City’s identity, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said on Thursday.
“We have warned repeatedly that Israel is playing with fire, and Jordan rejects and condemns all measures aimed at changing the identity of Jerusalem and the displacement of its Christian and Muslim Arab population,” the king said in an interview with Jordanian journalists.
“East Jerusalem must be the capital of an independent Palestinian state which should be established as soon as possible.
“Jerusalem belongs to the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967 and, like the other occupied territories, it is subject to unilateral Israel actions that are illegal and illegitimate and will lead to further conflict,” the king added.
The Israeli authorities on Wednesday gave the green light to 20 new homes in east Jerusalem.
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