Jordanian parliament discusses annulling peace treaty with Israel

Some 47 ministers have called for Jordan to cancel its peace treaty with Israel in response to Israel’s parliament debating sovereignty over Al-Aqsa Mosque, which they considered a breach of the treaty, a newspaper reported today.

Al-Rai newspaper reported that “47 Ministers of Parliament suggested yesterday [Tuesday] at the House of Representatives to prepare a draft law to abolish the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty [Wadi Araba] with a proposal to give the sense of urgency.”

It explained that the proposal comes, according to the signatories of the memorandum, “given the state of play of the Zionist entity and their daily assaults and disregard of Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

He said that the signatories believe “what Israel is doing in clear violation of the Treaty of Wadi Araba and an assault on the guardianship of Jordan on the holy sites in Jerusalem.”

Approximately one-third of the members of the House of Representatives of Jordan, which includes 150 members, signed the memorandum.

They allocated today’s parliamentary session to debate the repercussions of the Knesset discussions about canceling the sovereignty of Jordan over Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Israeli Knesset discussed the draft law suggested by the extremist member Moshe Viglin, member of Likud Party headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The discussion ended without being ratified and the Knesset agreed to resume discussion at a later date.

Earlier to this Knesset session, Netanyahu objected to such a law because it did not have enough support in Israel and it would arouse the anger of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinians, at a time when the US is working on reaching a peace agreement in the Middle East.

Israel signed the peace agreement with Jordan in 1994 and it accepted Jordanian guardianship on the Islamic sacred and religious places in Jerusalem.

Israel has been working on a massive network of tunnels beneath the mosque’s yard. The tunnels caused several holes in the yards and weakened the foundations of several of the buildings inside the parameters.