Israel, Jordan, PLO pave way for Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s meeting with King Abdullah on July 27th could see negotiations being announced shortly between Israel and Jordan to create a single territorial entity encompassing Jordan, Gaza and parts of the West Bank. 

This newly created entity - designated The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine – together with Israel – will constitute the elusive and previously unattainable two-state solution – pursued by:

• the Mandate for Palestine (1922)
• The Peel Commission (1937)
• UN Resolution 181 (III) (1947)
• Venice Declaration (1980)
• Oslo Accords (1993)
• Saudi Peace Plan (1982)
• Revised Saudi Peace Plan (2002)
• Bush Roadmap (2002)
• The UN (2016)
• Trump Peace Plan (2020)

- finally ending the conflict over the division of former Palestine between Arabs and Jews begun with the defeat of Turkey in World War I. 

The plan to create The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine was first announced in Al-Arabiya news –owned by the Saudi Royal family – on June 8, 2022 in an article written by Ali Shihabi – a close confidante of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – Saudi Arabia’s heir apparent to the Saudi throne and the driving force behind Neom – a $500 billion megacity of the future to be built from the ground up in an area of northern Saudi Arabia equal to the size of Israel. 

A tweet issued by King Abdullah’s Palace (see below) confirms that the King and Lapid discussed the subject of a two-state solution and it seems inconceivable that they would have discussed any plan other than this Saudi solution.

It would appear that back channel negotiations have been going on since the release of the Saudi plan on 8 June to refine it to reflect - with more precision - the starting positions of Jordan, Israel and the PLO in any negotiations. 

Those agreed starting positions include:

1. The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will be ruled by Jordan’s current Hashemite ruler King Abdullah – which Hashemite dynasty has ruled Jordan for the last 100 years.
2. The right of return to Israel by Palestinian Arab refugees will not be pursued. Instead The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will integrate those refugees within its borders
3. The borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will include:

• Jordan with its current borders
• The Gaza Strip
• Areas of the West Bank inhabited by Palestinian Arabs and bordering Jordan that are contiguous and not divided into islandsThe retention by Israel of the Jordan Valley and other areas of the West Bank will be resolved in the negotiations

4. Neither the Arabs nor the Muslims will seek to expel Israel from Jerusalem. However it remains as a bargaining chip in the hands of the Palestinian Arabs in securing any agreement and giving the Holy Places in Jerusalem a special status. 

5. Any agreement will need to be ratified by a free popular referendum by all Jordanians and residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and those who are stateless such as the residents of the refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria. Palestinian Arabs who are settled in other countries and who enjoy full citizenship will have no vote.

6. The rationale for creating The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine is based on the fact that Jordanians and Palestinians are Sunni Arabs from the same region and integrating them will not cause any ethnic or sectarian fault lines in the long run. 

Jordan has received a flurry of visits from Mohammed Bin Salman, PLO Leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s President Herzog, since the Saudi Plan was published. 

Lapid’s visit now when he is only caretaker Prime Minister is highly significant. It could indicate the commencement of negotiations is supported by the majority of Israel’s political parties. 

Let the negotiations begin.

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine to end Mandate for Palestine saga

 

The creation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine –the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one single territorial entity comprising about 80% of the territory of the Mandate for Palestine (Mandate) - will be a fitting end to the Mandate saga which began on July 24, 1922 with the unanimous approval of its terms by all 51 Members of the League of Nations. 

The remaining 20% of the Mandate territory will mark the final internationally recognised boundaries of Israel -3000 years after the loss of the Jewish ancient and biblical homeland to the Roman General -Pompey - following his conquest of Jerusalem and its surroundings in 63 BC.

This two-state solution in Palestine - one Arab the other Jewish - had not been that originally planned by the Principal Allied Powers at the San Remo Conference in April 1920 and confirmed by the Treaty of Sevres in August that year. 

San Remo had provided for: 

• Arab self-determination within the territory comprised in the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon and the Mandate for Mesopotamia - comprising 99.99% of the territory formerly part of the 400 years old Ottoman Empire liberated after World War 1
• Jewish self-determination within the territory comprised in the Mandate for Palestine located on both sides of the Jordan River - the remaining 0.01% of the liberated Ottoman Empire 

Two and a half of the 12 Tribes of Israel had settled East of the Jordan River after reaching the Promised Land - as recorded in the Old Testament. The other nine and a half tribes had continued on to settle West of the Jordan River.  

However the arrival of Abdullah - a member of the Hashemite dynasty - in Transjordan on 21 November 1920 accompanied by a band of armed troops en route to help his brother Faisal fight the French to retain Faisal's crown in Syria - resulted in:

• Great Britain - at the Cairo Conference held on March 12, 1921 - stopping Abdullah by creating the Emirate of Transjordan for Abdullah in 78% of Mandatory Palestine East of the Jordan River. The Emirate remained part of the Mandate until granted independence by Great Britain in 1946 - changing its name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan.
• Article 25 being inserted into the Mandate document on July 24, 1922--restricting the right of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in 22% of Mandatory Palestine West of the Jordan River
• The Council of the League of Nations approving these changed arrangements on September 16, 1922.

These changes have been preserved until today under article 80 of the United Nations Charter. 

The United Nations failure to observe the terms of its own Charter has been the greatest obstacle to achieving the Mandate-contemplated two-state solution. 

That two-state solution has however become politically attainable following a detailed plan for its creation in an article dated 8 June - written by Ali Shihabi a close confidante of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman the next King of Saudi Arabia - and published in Al-Arabiya News – owned by the Saudi Royal Family. 

Successful negotiations between Israel and Jordan to implement Shihabi's plan would result in:

• The merger of Mandate territory located East and West of the Jordan River into one Arab State and
• the recognition of a Jewish State in the remaining Mandate territory West of the Jordan River 

The last chapter of the Mandate saga begun on July 24, 1922 is on the diplomatic horizon. 

Author's note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators--whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Biden rejects Saudi plan for Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

President Biden's support for the creation of an additional Arab State between Israel and Jordan constitutes his clear rejection of a Saudi plan to merge Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called "The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine" ("Saudi Solution").

Biden's decision to pursue the failed policy adopted by President Obama and Biden as Vice President between 2011 and 2016 ("Obama/Biden two-state solution") was confirmed in Bethlehem on July 15, 2022:

"Today, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. President Biden reaffirmed the enduring ties between the Palestinian and American peoples and underscored his commitment to a two-state solution on the 1967 lines with land swaps mutually agreed by the Israelis and Palestinians. He also highlighted the importance of direct negotiations leading to an independent, sovereign, viable, and contiguous Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, both enjoying secure and recognized borders, allowing the two peoples to live side-by-side in peace and security."

Biden made this specific commitment even though admitting on arriving in Israel two days earlier:

"The two-state solution is still the best way to ensure peace and democracy for Israelis and Palestinians; however, I don't see a near horizon for this solution."

Biden's refusal to consider or even comment on the Saudi Solution since its publication six weeks ago in a Saudi Royal Family-owned news outlet - was replicated when Biden held meetings on July 16, 2022 with:

• Saudi Arabia's King Salman 
• King Salman's son and successor Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in what was described as an "extended working session" and 
• The leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

In none of those meetings was the Saudi Solution raised or discussed - as the White House: 

Detailed Fact Sheet and Joint Statement by Biden and the GCC make very clear. 

Biden's return to the Obama/Biden two-state solution enunciated by President Obama on 19 May 2011 is unfathomable:

"What America and the international community can do is to state frankly what everyone knows--a lasting peace will involve two states for two peoples: Israel as a Jewish state and the homeland for the Jewish people, and the state of Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people, each state enjoying self-determination, mutual recognition, and peace. So while the core issues of the conflict must be negotiated, the basis of those negotiations is clear: a viable Palestine, a secure Israel. The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their full potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state."

With no horizon in sight for achieving this solution - Biden is ensuring the 100-years-old unresolved conflict between Jews and Arabs will indefinitely continue to exact its toll of human lives and suffering as the following diagram so graphically illustrates:

Jordan-Israel negotiations on the other hand could see the Saudi Solution successfully achieved in six months by redrawing the existing international border between Jordan and Israel - finally completing the original two-state solution first contemplated by the League of Nations when adopting the Mandate for Palestine on July 24, 1922: 

• Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine: exercising sovereignty in about 80% of Mandatory Palestine and 
• Israel: exercising sovereignty in the remaining 20%.

Rejecting the Saudi Solution will have unpleasant consequences for the US-Saudi relationship and the US economy during Biden's remaining term as President. 

Author's note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"--one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators--whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades

PLO & Hamas give silent nod to Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

The first meeting in six years between PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Algeria this week saw these two protagonists for leadership of the Palestinian Arabs failing to take the opportunity to condemn a Saudi Arabian proposal to unify Jordan, Gaza and parts of the West Bank into one territorial entity.

 The justification for this ground- breaking merger was eloquently expressed by its author – Ali Shihabi – a close confidante of Saudi Arabia's next King – Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – in a recent article headlined " The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine" published in Al Arabiya News - owned by the Saudi Royal Family:

"Jordanians and Palestinians are as similar as any people can be. They are Sunni Arabs from the same neighbourhood. Merging them will not create any long-term ethnic or sectarian fault lines."

The Saudi proposal made the following hard-hitting truths that would have previously attracted outright condemnation and rejection by both the PLO and Hamas:

• "Israel is a reality firmly implanted on the ground that has to be accepted, however grudgingly, by the region around it
• Justice, however, does not make history; hard power does—and Palestinians must reconcile themselves to this painful reality and move forward with their lives without being held back by false hopes and illusions.
• [The] illusion of "return" has served some Arab regimes' interests by giving them a  powerful excuse to avoid integrating Palestinian refugees as citizens, particularly in Lebanon and even Jordan, both of which have millions of disenfranchised Palestinians in their camps. These regimes feared that these refugees-cum-citizens would alter their demographics and threaten their ruling order. Consequently, the excuse given was that since the Palestinians would eventually return to Palestine, giving them citizenship would technically undermine their "right of return" and hence they should be denied citizenship. Palestinian leaders actively colluded in perpetuating this tragedy.
• The Palestinian problem can only be solved today if it is redefined. The issue in this day and age for people should be not so much the ownership of ancestral land but more the critical need to have a legal identity—a globally respected citizenship that allows a person to operate in the modern world. Labor in this day and age is mobile and having citizenship in a country that facilitates such mobility is critical to human development."

It seems truly amazing that such accusations pulling out the rug from under both the PLO and Hamas should have been allowed to pass unmentioned and unchallenged by both Abbas and Haniyeh in Algeria. 

Their silence was indeed palpable and can – in the absence of any express denials - be construed as PLO and Hamas acceptance of the Saudi way forward - that could see any newly-created Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine: 

• Being demilitarized west of the Jordan River and in Gaza – adopting similar parliamentary and governance systems there used by Jordan when it occupied the West Bank between 1950 and 1967.
• The PLO and Hamas Charters calling for Israel's destruction revoked and their organisations being disarmed under international supervision 
• A new peace treaty with Israel replacing the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty
• The tunnels under Gaza leading into Israel being redirected to unite Gaza with other parts of the new State
• All citizens of the newly-created State enjoying common citizenship and freedom of  movement within the State
• The refugee camps in Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza and neighbouring Arab States being closed and their occupants offered citizenship in the new State or other host Arab states.

Abbas and Haniyeh's silence could indeed be the catalyst for the commencement of Jordan-Israel negotiations to make the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine a reality.

Author's note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — was hand-drawn from his COVID sick bed  by  Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

UN, EU, Jordan & USA keep mum on Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

The United Nations (UN), European Union (EU) Jordan and America (USA) continue to keep mum by refusing to comment on the Saudi Arabian proposal to unify Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into one territorial entity to be named "The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine"  

The detailed Saudi proposal was set out in an article published on 8 June written by Ali Shihabi – a confidante of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman - designated to be Saudi Arabia's next King.

The Saudi plan directly challenges UN, EU, Jordan and US positions argued for decades that the only solution to ending the conflict between Arabs and Jews is the creation for the first time in history of a 23rd Arab State between Israel and Jordan.  

Despite their unrelenting and determined efforts to bring this solution to fruition since its adoption by the EU at the Venice Summit on 13 June 1980 – that goal has proved incapable of being achieved. 

On 31 July 1988 Jordan's King Hussein hopped on the EU bandwagon and:

• Terminated Jordanian citizenship enjoyed by all West Bank Arab residents for the previous 38 years. 
• Renounced all Jordanian claims to the West Bank annexed by Jordan between 1950 and 1967

• Dissolved the Jordanian parliament (half of whose members were West Bank representatives), 
• Ceased salary payments to 21,000 West Bank civil servants, and 
• Ordered that West Bank Palestinian passports be converted to two-year travel documents. 

Jordan left the fate of the West Bank and its abandoned Jordanian-citizen population in the hands of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). 

The PLO subsequently rejected offers of a separate state proposed by the: 

• 1993 Oslo Accords
• 2003 Bush Roadmap 
• 2020 Trump Plan and 
• Israel in July 2000, September 2008 and June 2009

The EU and Jordan push for this separate-state solution between Israel and Jordan was made as recently as 2 June 2022:

"[The EU and Jordan] reiterated that the only path to a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the two-state solution that ends occupation and leads to the establishment, of an independent contiguous, sovereign and viable Palestinian State, on the lines of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with the State of Israel in peace, in accordance with international law and UN Security Council resolutions"

Their failure to address the Saudi initiative - made 6 days later - could see the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution being renamed the State of Palestine solution – with the Hashemites possibly losing their custodianship of the Islamic Holy sites in Jerusalem. 

President Biden has followed the EU and Jordan - Deputy Ambassador Richard Mills telling the UN Security Council on 27 June 2022 – without mentioning the Saudi proposal: 

"The current U.S. administration continues to affirm its strong support for a two-state solution, which remains the best way to ensure Israel's future as a democratic and Jewish state alongside a sovereign, viable Palestinian state." 

The UN and its agencies repeat this failed mantra ad nauseum.

Not one of these four major players has yet uttered one word specifically addressing Shihabi's plan to unify Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank – which Shihabi justifies on one indisputable fact: 

"Jordanians and Palestinians are as similar as any people can be. They are Sunni Arabs from the same neighbourhood. Merging them will not create any long-term ethnic or sectarian fault lines." 

No groups were defined and identified as:

• "Jordanians": Before 1950.
• "Palestinians": Until 1964.

Two States – Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - not three states – is the Saudi key that can finally bring peace to the Middle East.