Netanyahu is dragging region into war and must be stopped, Jordan says

By John Irish

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Jordan's foreign minister said on Friday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to be stopped because he was driving the region to a full-fledged war.

"It is time to face the truth, and the truth is, unless Netanyahu is stopped, unless this government is stopped, war will encompass all of us," Ayman Safadi told reporters ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting on Gaza.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli airstrikes shook Beirut, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted Hezbollah's central headquarters in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said ahead of the Security Council meeting that the airstrikes had increased the risk of the situation spiralling out of control.

"We believe very, very, very strongly that a ceasefire is necessary, that the guns are not going to solve anything, that we need to move towards a peace in our region, and that peace is firmly rooted in addressing the Palestinian issue," bin Farhan said.

In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Netanyahu spoke at length on his wish to make progress on normalising ties with Saudi Arabia, and said Israel was fighting on seven fronts.

"It was interesting to see that Prime Minister Netanyahu, in his words, in quite a lengthy statement about the issue, not once mentioned Palestine, not once mentioned the Palestinians," bin Farhan said.

"This is exactly the problem. Without addressing the issue of Palestine, it will not be able, it will not be possible, to reach the dual potential of regional peace and stability," he said, adding that there would be no normalisation without a resolution of the Palestinian issue.

Safadi echoed those comments.

"I can tell you here very unequivocally, all of us are willing to right now, guarantee the security of Israel in the context of Israel ending the occupation and allowing for the emergence of a Palestinian state, independent state," he said.

"(But) he (Netanyahu) is creating danger because he simply does not want the two state solution," Safadi said.

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)