Nayrouz News Agency : Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Omar Razzaz on Tuesday warned that the Israeli government’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank "could unleash a new wave of extremism” in the Middle East.

Razzaz, in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, said that the annexation policy adopted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be "ushering in a new apartheid state" that could be a radicalising force and further destabilise the region and the world.

The prime minister added: "Anything short of a viable two-state solution is going to push not just Jordan, not just Palestine, not just Israel, but the region and the world into chaos," the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

"We are against unilateral actions and the annexation plan," he said, adding that Jordan is also against any steps that are not part of a comprehensive plan that leads to the envisioned two-state solution.

"I challenge any Israeli official to come up with a better alternative than the two-state solution, and to tell us what he is talking about. Is he talking about one democratic state? Or an apartheid state that will bring instability, not only to the region, but also to the whole world, as the state of apartheid in South Africa," Petra quoted him as saying.

The prime minister also stressed that the Kingdom will not accept transfers of Palestinians, nor will it be an alternative country, underscoring that Jordan will not give up its custodianship over Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. "These three are clear for us,” he said.

Razzaz said that the annexation move would enshrine a South Africa-style apartheid system, noting that this was already being practised against Palestinians inside Israel and in the occupied territories, according to Petra