WASHINGTON - A Palestinian division of the Jordanian military should be deployed in the West Bank in order to bring law and order to the area , opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Thursday.
During a visit to Washington, Netanyahu told Israeli reporters that Palestinians will not be able to impose order alone and require international assistance to do so. "We can't build up Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with Palestinian forces alone. We need Egyptian and Jordanian involvement," he said.
"Egypt must block arms smuggling in the Philadelphi corridor, which is has not done to date. Jordan can and must support the effort with a measured security contribution in the West Bank," he elaborated.
"We need to consider a new role for Jordan, one of Jordanian support," he told Ynet. "Depending, of course, on the willingness of Abbas and (Jordanian king) Abdullah, we must begin to coordinate Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian security cooperation."
Netanyahu met with US Vice President Dick Cheney, discussing with him the Iranian threat. He said economic and political action should be taken against the regime, stating that economic sanctions had the potential to be effective.
However, he said, the bottom line was to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The world must not become accustomed to a nuclear Iran, he said.
While in Washington, Netanyahu also met with two presidential hopefuls – Democratic Senator Hilary Clinton and former Republican senator Fred Thompson, who has yet to declare his candidacy formally.
During previous visits to the US, Netanyahu had convened with Republican primary candidates Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, as well as Democratic Senator Barack Obama. He also spoke with Senator John McCain.
RSS
