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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Prime Minister Omar Razzaz has said that Jordan’s relationship with Israel is at its lowest level since the signing of the peace treaty between the two countries, as a result of unilateral Israeli actions, including violating the sanctity of Muslim and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem.

In an interview with the CNN, Razzaz said: "The peace treaty can go into the deep freeze mode and therefore it's definitely at risk."

On the rhetoric embraced by some in Israel that "Jordan is Palestine" or those who speak of "transferring the Palestinians to Jordan", the prime minister said such statements "are extremely dangerous ... And not just for Jordan, they are dangerous for the whole region, for the stability. So it's really playing with fire in a region that's already in a tumultuous situation. So it's pushing things in the wrong direction, and we cannot be but totally opposed."

In response to a question about Jordan not supporting the U.S Mideast plan and its relationship to economic aid from the U.S., Razzaz said Jordan's relationship with the U.S. is deep, historic, and strategic, and has been such with all the US administrations, the US House, the US Senate, and the US people, adding: "We are not worried that that strategic relationship will be affected."

The prime minister said none of the elements of U.S. plan were discussed with Jordan prior to its announcement, stressing "We will never mix political aspirations with financial deals."

In response to a question about the government's plans to deal with economic challenges, namely debt and unemployment, Razzaz the govrnment is implementing a 5-year plan which started to reflect positively on tourism and business-doing despite the ramifications of border closure and the refugee crisis.

On anti-graft efforts, the prime minister said: "We have created all the necessary institutions and given them all their independence to look into corruption cases and fight them. But if you look, sheer number, the cost of the interruption over the Egyptian gas, the cost of absorbing 1.3 million Syrian refugees. That's 20 percent of Jordan's population. Can you imagine a country that absorbs 20 percent of its population overnight and stays solvent? What we worry about is people are impatient. And we understand why they are impatient, because it's been 10 years since the economic slump after the Syrian refugees and the whole regional situation."

"We live in a troubled neighborhood, and we've been at the receiving end of this trouble since day one. And Jordan has become extremely resilient both politically and economically. It's not a coincidence that we've seen countries 10 times the size of Jordan, and 10 times the economy of Jordan, collapse and turn into failed states, unfortunately. Jordan did not. The reason is there is a certain, I'd say, political culture that has developed in Jordan where the population is united in many, many ways. We agree, we disagree, but there is unity behind the Hashemite leadership in this country," Razzaz said.