Jordan MPs warn against moving US embassy to Jerusalem

By Laith al-Junaidi

AMMAN

Jordanian lawmakers on Monday warned the U.S. against plans to relocate its Israel embassy to Jerusalem and officially recognize the city as the Jewish state’s capital.

MPs issued the warning at a joint press conference held by parliament’s Reform Bloc and the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood group, at the IAF’s headquarters in central Amman.

"The embassy’s transfer to Jerusalem will not serve to legitimize the [Israeli] occupation [of Palestinian territory],” Reform Bloc leader Abdullah al-Akaylah declared.

Warning against what he described as "the liquidation of the Palestinian cause", he asserted: "Arab regimes are racing to normalize ties with the Israeli entity; we appeal to our brothers in all [Arab] parliaments to push their respective governments to resist this trend.”

Al-Akaylah went on to call for a “region-wide popular movement” aimed at “sending a message to the Zionist entity -- and the U.S. -- that the region’s people are stronger than their unjust policies”.

Last week, the U.S. media reported that U.S. President Donald Trump was mulling the imminent relocation of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the formal recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.

On Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned against the move, which, he said, would jeopardize the future of the Middle East peace process and the notion of a viable “two-state solution”.