Jordan: Partial settlement freeze insufficient

Jordan has rejected Israel's latest plan to temporarily freeze settlement activity in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem Al-Quds.

"The unilateral Israeli plan for partial cessation of settlement activity in the occupied West Bank is an insufficient step, which fails to meet the world community's requirements for the two-state vision," AFP quoted Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh as saying on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday declared a 10-month suspension of settlement construction in the West Bank but said the building of settlements would continue in East Jerusalem Al-Quds, which Israel seized from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war.

The UN still considers it an occupied territory and has urged Israel to stop its illegal settlement activity in the area.

Judeh noted that the Israeli step was aimed at tempting the Palestinians to resume negotiations with Israel with the eventual aim of creating a "demilitarized Palestinian state".

"The exclusion of East Jerusalem from the freeze of settlement activity is rejected by Jordan because it runs counter to the international consensus that considers East Jerusalem an occupied city which should be drawn on the agenda of the final status talks," he added.

Judeh stated a possible end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should lead to the creation of a "sovereign Palestinian state" with East Jerusalem Al-Quds as its capital.