Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Jordan rejects Israeli ‘lies’ over West Bank at UN Security Council

Jordan rejects Israeli ‘lies’ over West Bank at UN Security Council

Jordan has said that it never occupied the West Bank, as claimed by Israel, insisting its presence in the disputed territory was part of an administrative arrangement with the Palestinians.
During the UN Security Council’s special session on Jerusalem on Thursday, the Tel Aviv ambassador claimed that Jordan occupied the West Bank in 1950, a suggestion described by his Jordanian counterpart as “lies and misleading information.”

Jordanian Permanent Representative to the UN Mahmoud Hmoud said: “What happened in 1950 was a union between the two banks of the Jordan River for the Palestinians to exercise the right to self-determination, and half of the Jordanian government was from the West Bank.”

Jordan, according to Israel, occupied the West Bank in 1948.

However, even after the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the area was still administratively linked to Jordan and was considered an electoral district before the disengagement law of 1989.

In 1950, a Jordanian parliament in which Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank were equally represented voted unanimously to unite the West Bank with Jordan in order to safeguard the remaining Arab territory of Palestine from Israeli expansion.

On July 31, 1988, Jordan’s King Hussein announced the severance of all administrative and legal ties with the occupied West Bank, saying the move would allow Palestinians to determine their own future.

The dispute between the two diplomats in the UN echoed a diplomatic rift between Amman and Tel Aviv following the controversial visit of Israel’s new far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is under Jordanian custodianship.

Jordan summoned the Israeli ambassador, and said Ben-Gvir’s visit had violated international law, and “the historic and legal status quo in Jerusalem.”

The status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque, preserved for decades, allows only Muslims to worship at the site.

The Jordanian lower house of parliament held a special session to discuss the Israeli violations, and issued a statement condemning Israel’s unilateral acts and voicing support for Jordan’s custodianship of Jerusalem’s holy sites.

The emergency Security Council meeting on Jerusalem was held on a joint Jordanian-Palestinian request, and with the support of the UAE, France, China and Malta.

Although the council made no commitment to any action during the session, member states expressed concern and stressed the need to maintain the status quo at the mosque compound in the holy city.

Delivering Jordan’s statement at the meeting, Hmoud voiced Amman’s condemnation of the “storming” of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by the Israeli minister under the protection of occupation forces.

He described the minister’s visit as a “provocative step that is rejected and condemned,” adding that it represents “a flagrant violation of international law, and the historical and legal status quo in the city of Jerusalem and its holy sites.”

Political analyst Hussein Al-Rawashdeh said that Israel has “finalized a scheme that targets both Palestine and Jordan.”

Jordan is certain of the “inevitability of the confrontation” with Israel, even after 29 years of peace following the Wadi Araba treaty in 1994, he said.

Al-Rawashdeh said that all events indicate Israel has hidden agenda against its neighbor, with the arrival of an ultra-Orthodox and far-right government in office being the first proof.

The analyst said that Jordan is facing an “existentialist threat and not only political maneuvering” from Israel and, therefore, needs to build a “Jordanian cause based on a convincing and concise narrative, and a coherent and unified internal front.”

Echoing those remarks, Mohammed Al-Tal, a veteran journalist and former editor-in-chief of Ad-Dustor Daily, said that Israel has “unfriendly” intentions against Jordan and is seeking to resolve the long-running conflict at the expense of the kingdom.

He claimed that through its repeated violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israel is sending a menacing and disrespectful message to its neighbor.

During a recent interview with CNN, Jordan’s King Abdullah said that the country is ready to deal with any push against Hashemite custodianship.

The king also warned against extremists’ attempts to use Jerusalem to create conflict and violence.

On whether there are fears of a third intifada (uprising), the king said: “We have to be concerned about a next intifada. And if that happens, that is a complete breakdown of law and order, it is one that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians will benefit from.

“If people want to get into a conflict with us, we are quite prepared. (However) let us look at the glass half full.”

He added: “We have certain red lines. And if people want to push those red lines then we will deal with that. But I have to believe that there are a lot of people in Israel who are concerned as much as we are.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Syria Holds First Elections Since Fall of Assad
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
×