Former Jordanian foreign minister, first ambassador to Israel, says two-state solution is 'dead and cannot be revived'

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s first ambassador to Israel, Marwan Muasher, recently accused the Israeli government of undermining any prospects to implement the “two-state solution.” 

In an interview with the Arabic-speaking Radio Al-Balad station, Muasher accused Netanyahu's government of extremism. 

“We are dealing with a religiously and ethnically extremist Israeli government … which is impossible to be flexible and adaptive to,” said Muasher. “When extremism is the byword of the government, diplomatic tools do not work on it. This government does not give any weight to diplomatic tools.” 

The former envoy to Israel criticized Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who recently referred to “the Palestinian nation” as an invention. 

“And if the government is extremist from two angles, ethnically extremist and religiously extremist?” said Muasher. “Never before in the history of Israel has there been such a government, in which some of its members openly believe that Palestinians have no right to exist, and define the Land of Israel as including Jordan and Palestine.”

Muasher published an article last month making similar comments that he believes a two-state solution is no longer a viable option.

“It is time to admit what has been obvious for a few years: The two-state solution to end the Palestinian-Israel conflict is dead and cannot be revived. The longer the international community clings to this impossible solution, the deeper the hole it digs for itself, and it will have to start dealing with a potentially more difficult problem of the daily violation of Palestinian rights in the occupied territories,” Muasher noted in the article.

Israel and Jordan signed a formal peace agreement in 1994, sponsored by former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Unlike the Abraham Accords in 2020 between Israel, UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, relations between Jordan and Israel have been strained frequently amid widespread rejection of peace with Israel among the Jordanian population. 

The nations presented the parties of the dispute with a “two-state” construction plan on several occasions since 1937. While the Jewish side had reservations about specific borders, its representatives accepted the plan. In contrast, the Arab side, led by the Palestinian Authority, has rejected every two-state proposal and declared opposition to Israel’s very existence.