Ammon News -

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi said Saturday that developing a more comprehensive strategy that would increase the Arab role in solving regional conflicts is crucial.

In the 16th edition of the IISS Manama Dialogue on regional challenges, Safadi emphasized the importance of cooperation and coordination with the international partners in approaching regional issues. However, he highlighted that it is "unnatural" for Arab concerted effort in addressing regional crises, saying that this must be changed.

He emphasized the centrality of the Palestinian cause that constitutes the bases of regional conflict, as he said that settling the conflict on the bases of the two-state solution is the only way to achieve a viable peace and stability.

A just and comprehensive peace settlement to the conflict on the bases of the two-state solution is a strategic Arab option that would bolster regional and international peace and security, he highlighted, adding that a Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital based on the pertinent international resolutions and the Arab Initiative would achieve that.

Safadi emphasized that the necessity of bringing the conflicting parties to the negotiating table to invigorate serious talks based on the international resolutions.

He warned against Israel's illegal actions, chief of which are building settler units, demolishing Palestinians' expropriating homes, that undermine any prospects for a two-state solution to the conflict.

"There is no cause as sensitive as Jerusalem and its sanctities; tampering with them is a provocation to the feelings of millions of Muslims and Christians and that would lead most certainly to the eruption of conflict," he warned.

On Syria, Safadi iterated the importance of pooling effort aimed at reaching a political solution to the Syrian conflict that would preserve the country's territorial integrity and restore peace and stability.

On neighboring Iraq, He underscored the importance of protecting Iraq from the spillover of regional conflicts to secure its security and that of the region, "In Iraq, there is a government that has been working on the reconstruction and restoring stability that ought to be supported."

He brought up the subject of fighting terrorism, which Iraq has waged successful war against, and said that the danger of terrorism still lingers, which calls for resorting to the overarching approach that was induced by the 2018 Aqaba Meetings that were initiated by His Majesty King Abdullah II.

He said that terrorism is an enemy to all and that it has no root to Islam and its principles of peace; tolerance; love and respect for others.

On Iran, Safadi said that the Arab countries seek to establish relations with the Islamic Republic that are founded on the respect for the internal affairs of states and abstaining from meddling in their affairs.

Also, the foreign minister highlighted the importance of boosting cooperation on food security, education, health and building regional institutions to that end.

On the sidelines of the IISS Manama Dialogue, Safadi held separate meetings with the foreign ministers of Germany, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and South Korea where he discussed ties, cooperation and regional developments.

He held talks with International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, on the issue of refugees, as the talks emphasized the importance of the Jordan-ICRC cooperation on meeting the humanitarian and day-to-day needs of the refugees. And he met with Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Nayef Hajraf, and discussed the regional challenges and emphasized the need to pooling effort to reduce regional tensions.