Jordan threatens to review ties if Israel annexes West Bank territory

"We will not accept unilateral Israeli moves to annex Palestinian lands and we would be forced to review all aspects of our relations with Israel," Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz told the official Petra news agency.

The deal underlying Israel's new unity government, sworn in on Sunday, allows it from July 1 to initiate moves to implement US President Donald Trump's widely criticised plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The plan, rejected by the Palestinians before it was published, gives the green light from Washington for Israel to annex settlements and other territory in the West Bank - including the valley running along the border with Jordan.

Razzaz accused Israel of taking advantage of the world being "distracted" by the coronavirus crisis to implement "unilateral moves on the ground".

His comments came days after Jordan's King Abdullah II warned that if Israel "really annexes the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan".

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King Abdullah told German magazine Der Spiegel that "I don't want to make threats and create a loggerheads atmosphere, but we are considering all options."

Jordan is the only Arab state apart from Egypt to have a formal peace treaty with Israel. Despite the 1994 agreement, relations have been tense in recent years.

Opinion polls have repeatedly found that the treaty is overwhelmingly opposed by Jordanians, more than half of whom are of Palestinian origin.

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