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Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers sent a letter to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Saturday, in which they condemn Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s statements on removing the Jordanian city of “Hawwara” from the map, and denying the existence of the Palestinian people.
In a ministerial statement, Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary Jassim Muhammad Al-Budaiwi confirmed that the letter addressed to the US Secretary of State embodies the position of the leaders of the GCC states on the Palestine issue.
“arab question”
Al-Budaiwi also stressed that the question of Palestine is “the first question of Arabs and Muslims”.
The statement called on America to assume its responsibilities in responding to all measures and statements directed at the Palestinian people.
He urged the US administration to do its part to achieve a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
These developments came after a majority of members of parliament voted last week to approve a proposal to expel the Israeli ambassador from Jordan, in light of the map crisis and the Israeli minister’s racist remarks.
On Monday, the Jordanian foreign ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador to Amman to protest the right-wing finance minister’s use of a map of Israel that includes Jordan and the Palestinian territories, as well as statements in which he denied “the existence of a Palestinian people or a Palestinian culture”.
During the commemoration of the death of Franco-Israeli activist close to the Israeli right Jacques Kupfer last Sunday in Paris, Smotrich opined that “there are no Palestinians because there are no Palestinian people”, according to a video clip released on the social.
An uproar and international condemnation
The minister, who a few weeks ago caused an international outcry and condemnation after his call to “erase” the Palestinian city of Hawara, added: “After 2,000 years of exile, the people of Israel will return to their homes.”
Smotrich delivered his words as he stepped onto a podium, which was decorated with a map on which it was written in Hebrew the “Map of the Land of Israel” with Jordan annexed.
This has unleashed a wave of Jordanian and Palestinian criticism, and racist statements against Palestinians have prompted Arab, American and European condemnations.
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