MADRID, November 27. /TASS/. Peace and security in the Middle East cannot be achieved without putting an end to the Israeli occupation and respecting the rights of Palestinians, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi said.

"In terms of international law, what is going on in the Gaza Strip should be classified as genocide," he told a news conference after the Union for the Mediterranean forum in Barcelona. "How can the massacre of more than 14,000 people, the destruction of 60,000 houses and depriving people of water, electricity and medical assistance be called Israeli self-defense?"

He called on his European counterparts to join forces "in order to compel Israel to stop hostilities and go back to settling the conflict politically."

"The Israeli government has ministers who reject the history and culture of the Palestinian people, its right to exist," he stressed. "But the only way to stop the Arab-Israeli conflict is to treat the Palestinians as equals."

According to Safadi, "the war the Benjamin Netanyahu government is waging on Palestinians has led not only to the mass killing of innocent civilians but has negated more than 30 years of peace efforts geared toward normalizing relations with Israel, building regional security and developing cooperation."