Jordan warns that Jewish settlements may 'imperil' peace treaty with Israel

"All such acts are incompatible with international law and international humanitarian law," Jordan's ambassador to Israel, Walid Obeidat, says at an anniversary event in Tel Aviv.

By REUTERS
Anti-Israel demonstration in Jordan (photo credit: REUTERS)
Anti-Israel demonstration in Jordan
(photo credit: REUTERS)
TEL AVIV - Jordan warned Israel on Sunday the 20-year-old peace treaty with Israel would be threatened by continued Jewish settlement building and any effort to change the religious status of the area of the al-Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem.
"All such acts are incompatible with international law and international humanitarian law and if allowed to continue will ultimately imperil the treaty," Jordan's ambassador to Israel, Walid Obeidat, said in Tel Aviv at an anniversary event of the peace treaty between the two nations that was signed twenty years ago. 
Obeidat cited the efforts of far-right Israelis to change the status of a plaza near the al-Aksa holy to Jews as the place where two ancient temples stood, and reports of plans to build more settlements in land Palestinians want for a state.  
Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon, in a separate speech, called for "avoiding needless tensions in the holy places".
"As someone who experienced wars and lost the best of my friends to them, I am aware to the depth of my heart of the importance of peace," Ya'alon said.
Ya'alon suggested Israel would be more hesitant to yield land for peace to the Palestinians who seek a state in the West Bank and Gaza, land Israel captured in the 1967 war. It withdrew troops from Gaza in 2005 but kept tight controls over that territory's crossings.
"As defence minister of the State of Israel I will not compromise on the security and the lives of Israeli citizens, nor will I gamble with them," Ya'alon said.
The treaty with Jordan along Israel's eastern frontier was signed in 1994, making it Israel's second peace deal with an Arab neighbor after a 1979 pact with Egypt.