Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas reaffirmed Sunday his country's support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ahead of a long-awaited United States (U.S.) "peace" plan.
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"We still agree that reaching a two-state solution through negotiations is the only solution," the top diplomat said during a press conference in Amman with his Jordanian counterpart.
Washington is gearing up to roll out economic aspects of its dubbed "deal of the century" at a conference in Bahrain later this month, and the U.S. ambassador has already hinted to "annexation" plans of Palestinian territory.
The Palestinians have rejected the deal, citing a string of moves by U.S. President Donald Trump they say show his administration is irredeemably biased.
"We and Germany agree that the two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi weighed in on the issue as well.
Mass and Safadi met a day after U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman was quoted by the New York Times as saying Israel had the "right" to annex at least parts of the occupied West Bank. Palestinian leaders said the U.S. envoy's comments showed "extremists" were involved in White House policy on the issue.
Friedman has in the past been a supporter of Israeli settlements as has the family of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and lead-adviser for the efforts to put together the so-called "peace" plan. Kushner has hinted that it will not endorse international calls for the creation of a Palestinian state.
Both foreign ministers also stressed the importance of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, just weeks after the U.S. called for it to be dismantled after cutting its roughly US$300 million annual donations. Jordan is home to nearly 2.2 million Palestinian refugees, who make up almost half of the kingdom's population.