May 1 showdown threatens Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine & havoc

 

A showdown between Israel’s Government and High Court of Justice on May 1, 2023 concerning the demolition and evacuation of an illegal Bedouin encampment – Khan al-Ahmar - is threatening to shred the implementation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution, cause an international uproar and create a humanitarian crisis in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza.

Three judges of the High Court of Justice on May 24, 2018 unanimously rejected a final appeal by the 200 residents of Khan al-Ahmar to demolish and evacuate its residents – finding the Government had that right “under the letter of the law”.

Two sites for their evacuation have been rejected by the residents:

• A relocation site 8.5 km. away
• Relocation to an area adjoining Abu Dis – where Israel has reportedly invested some 80 million shekels ($23.7 million) preparing infrastructure, roads, electricity, water, sewage, a health clinic and school - all on state land

Nine adjournments had been granted since 2018 until February 1st of this year when these three Judges refused to grant the newly-installed Netanyahu Government a tenth adjournment for a further four months - creating an immediate political crisis by ordering the Government to come up with a plan of evacuation by April 2, 2023 and relisting the matter for final hearing on May 1.

The Judges were oblivious apparently to the political ramifications they were causing for the Government by refusing another adjournment and demanding a timetable for demolition.

That plan of evacuation was apparently not provided by the Government to the Court by April 2.

Instead a submission has been filed in the Court by the Government arguing that only the Government should decide on the timing of any demolition – not the Court:

“The petitioners have not proven any cause which would justify court intervention in the broad discretion the political echelon has regarding the manner and timing of the implementation of the demolition orders in the [Khan al-Ahmar] compound ... the question of timing and method of implementation the [demolition] orders are influenced by wide and varied political and security considerations. As such, and bearing in mind the classified information on which these considerations are based, the position of the political echelon is that the decision regarding the question should be left in their hands...is a complex and sensitive question, the consequences of which exceed mere construction and planning laws,” and could have consequences “for Israel’s foreign relations and security.”

Up to 445,000 protestors demonstrating throughout Israel every Saturday night for the last thirteen weeks have been demanding no suggested reforms be made by the Government to the High Court’s jurisdiction to hear and determine cases brought before it.

They have now been joined by two of the demonstrators’ most-hated politicians - Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – who both unsuccessfully argued that the Government in its submission should allow the Court to make an order for Khan al-Ahmar’s demolition on May 1 – the last thing these protestors would want to see – resulting in continuing further demonstrations to prevent.

How is this looming showdown going to be avoided?

My humble opinion: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu needs to confirm to the Court that one of his senior officials has been discussing implementing the Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution or alternative solutions in alleged secret back channel meetings with a senior PLO official for the last three months.

This disclosure should be sufficient for the Court to grant a further adjournment – avoiding any damaging confrontation between the Government and the Court – leaving those secret negotiations to determine the fate of Khan al-Ahmar and thousands of other illegally-built Arab structures.

What a tangled mess we weave...

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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

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine key to end conflict in Middle East

 

Visits to Saudi Arabia this past week by Jordan’s King Abdullah, PLO President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh could be the prelude to negotiations with Israel to implement the Saudi-based 2022 Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (Saudi Solution) and end 100 years of unresolved conflict between Jews and Arabs.

These three visits - coming within days of each other - have taken place amidst dizzying diplomatic and economic activity over the last six weeks that have seen an easing of tension in the Middle East - including:

• Saudi Arabia and Iran agreeing in March to re-establish diplomatic relations after a 7 years break - promising:

“keenness to exert all efforts towards enhancing regional and international peace and security”

• Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on April 18  - coming days after Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited Saudi Arabia on the first such trip since the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011.

• Qatar and Bahrain announcing on April 12 that they would resume diplomatic relations

• Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launching four new special economic zones in Saudi Arabia on April 14 - offering opportunities for knowledge-sharing and creating tens of thousands of jobs.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu believes these Abbas and Haniyeh visits to Saudi Arabia and the rapprochement with Syria and Iran are:

“Maybe to tell them they are going to have to prepare themselves - maybe to try to tell them to stop doing the kind of terror they foment”

The Saudi Solution achieves that outcome - calling for:

• The merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into one territorial unit under Hashemite rule to be called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - with its capital to be Amman - not Jerusalem.

• Citizenship in the new entity being granted to all stateless Palestinian Arabs no matter where they presently reside.

• Jerusalem being recognised as Israel’s sole capital and

• Sovereignty in part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) being vested in the Jewish people for the first time in 3500 years.

The common denominator existing between King Abdullah, Abbas, Haniyeh and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) since the publication of the Saudi Solution on June 8, 2022 has been their failure to expressly reject the Saudi Solution - even though it trashes separate policies and agendas espoused by each one of them for decades.

For MBS in particular - the Saudi Solution:

• Shreds Saudi policy pursued since 2002 and adopted as the Arab Peace Initiative: Creating an independent Palestinian State between Israel and Jordan with its capital located in East Jerusalem (two-state solution)

• Terminates Saudi Arabia’s endorsement of United Nations Security Council resolution 2334 in 2016 seeking a two-state solution.

Successfully implementing the Saudi Solution will establish a conflict-free zone in Israel, Gaza and Judea and Samaria (West Bank)  - complementing MBS’s amazing economic plans for Saudi Arabia -dubbed Vision 2030 - including trillion-dollar investments in mega-developments Neom and Diriyah.

King Abdullah, Abbas and Haniyeh have also unsuccessfully pursued the two-state solution since the 1993 Oslo Accords. Implementing the Saudi solution offers them a return to what actually existed  - and worked - between 1950 and 1967.

Three major hurdles to implementing the Saudi Solution have been resolved in principle in the Saudi Solution:

• Who governs the newly-merged entity
• Where the capital of that new entity will be located
• Recognition of Israeli sovereignty claims to part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)

Security control of all the territory west of the Jordan River is the last major issue requiring resolution.

Ending conflict in the Middle East - not perpetuating it - has become Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic agenda.

Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”

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

An analyst discusses Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution

 

An analyst has finally surfaced to break 10 months of silence by analysts worldwide refusing to analyse or discuss the 2022 Saudi-based conversation:

Me: You need to consider the Saudi-based plan dispassionately on its merits. The whole world is concerned with the Palestinian issue and many solutions have been proposed from around the world in the past 100 years - all of which have not resulted in ending the conflict. This latest Saudi solution could be the solution to succeed where all others have failed. Shihabi [the solution’s author -ed] is a confidant of Crown Prince and Prime Minister - Mohammed Bin Salman - and a member of the Board advising the Crown Prince on Neom - a US $500 billion mega city being developed in north-west Saudi Arabia. Bin Salman has not rejected Shihabi's plan in the ten months since its publication - even though it reverses Saudi foreign policy for the last 20 years. I urge you once again to look at the Saudi plan objectively as the circuit breaker to end this long-running and tragic conflict between Arabs and Jews.

Ismail: The last advice Palestinians need is from a fascist psycho dictator MBS and his fantasy Neom team. You have cynically said the proposal would be circuit breaker, but for who? For Israel of course because that would be on the terms of a war criminal fascist settler state Israel, certainly never for oppressed Palestinians. It’s shocking to see shills like you advocating for something that is way out of line from the UN simply because it’s on the terms of oppressor state Israel. Would you apply the same logic to Ukraine under occupation, treading over the main stakeholders—the natives under brutal occupation—by adopting a proposal from the illegal oppressor occupier state’s new found friend; or go back even further, back German Nazi state and use a proposal that is “circuit breaker” acceptable to Nazi state? History shows, as far as natives and the colonised people is concerned, while coexistence within one state solution with natives living alongside the settler generation may be acceptable, nothing would be acceptable to colonised natives if it means they are being transferred over or bundled up together and removed to form a separate entity. Israel may have the best weapons on its side for now; nothing lasts forever.

Me: Your profile describes you as a Middle East strategic advisor & compliance professional. You continue to refuse to discuss the Saudi-solution - attacking its origin, its author and its next King. This is a plan that needs to be considered seriously by you. It is in my opinion a circuit breaker that is beneficial to both Jews and Arabs - whilst requiring both of them to make compromises which is what usually happens in conflicts such as this one. The Plan states: "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." That is what this plan promises if implemented. Reject it if you will - and perpetuate the conflict. Accept it - and end the conflict. Which choice as a strategic advisor would you advise the Palestinians to accept?

Ismail abruptly ended our discussion when asked why he thought PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh have not similarly denounced and rejected the Saudi-based plan for the last ten months.

Next analyst please...

@IsraeliPM,@special_royal,@SecBlinken,@UN_Spokesperson, @alishihabi, @JosepBorrellF #israel, #palestine, #jordan, #saudiarabia, #middleeast

Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”

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

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine threatens conflict industry

 

Ten months have passed since the Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution was published in Al-Arabiya News on 8 June 2022 (Saudi Solution) – yet not one word has appeared in the major international or any other news services – my publishers excepted – scarcely subjected to any analysis by the multiple think tanks, non-Government organisations [NGOs] and analysts around the world or been mentioned at the United Nations even once.

The perplexing question that needs to be answered is: 

Why this silence worldwide about a solution whose implementation promises:

• The merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into one territorial entity to be named the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine – to be ruled by the Hashemites with its capital in Amman – not Jerusalem
• Jerusalem to be the undivided capital of Israel only
• The Hashemites to retain control over the Islamic Holy Sites in Jerusalem
• Israel to regain sovereignty in part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) after 3500 years
• Stateless Palestinian Arabs living anywhere in the world gaining citizenship in the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
• An end to the 100 years-old unresolved Arab-Jewish conflict

Not newsworthy enough to report for 400 foreign media representatives from 32 countries stationed in Israel?

Not sufficiently intriguing for any reporter in the past ten months to ask the following leaders at their regular press conferences for their opinion of the Saudi Solution – given none of them has voluntarily issued a media statement or comment rejecting it:

• King Abdullah of Jordan,
• Palestine Liberation Organisation President Mahmoud Abbas
• Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh
• Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
• UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

My only explanation for the veil of silence covering this international conglomerate – that I have dubbed “the conflict industry” – is the threat they all see to their own existence if the Saudi Solution is successfully implemented and the Arab-Jewish conflict is ended.

Norman Finkelstein – a former professor famous for defending the Palestinian cause and fierce critic of Israel – admitted recently this phenomenon also exists in Ramallah – the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority:

“Whenever a cause has gone on so long as this one has, people develop an investment in its perpetuation. There are 10,000 NGOs in Ramallah now. That means 10,000 organizations which are paid for by foreign countries, mostly European, to ‘facilitate’ the peace process. And if you’re in an NGO, compared to the salaries of ordinary Palestinians, it’s quite good.”

“Ramallah is a pretty impressive lifestyle now. And so you develop a stake in perpetuating the situation. And so you don’t even want to think about realistic solutions, because part of you doesn’t even want it to end.”

“I have to admit myself – let’s say it ended tomorrow, what am I going to do tomorrow? I have to fight that.”

These culprits apparently cannot find anything to criticise in the Saudi Solution. If they did – they would have trashed it long ago in lengthy articles and detailed analysis – ridiculing it as a non-starter.

So they pretend the Saudi Solution does not exist – give it no oxygen – keep their readers in the dark about its potential to end the conflict.

A revolutionary game changer and circuit breaker – negotiations to implement the Saudi Solution are desperately needed to arrest the surging violence in Jerusalem, Gaza, Judea and Samaria (West Bank) – stoked by Syria, Iran and Lebanon.

The conflict industry stands condemned for breathlessly reporting the humanitarian disaster unfolding before its very eyes – whilst totally ignoring the Saudi Solution that could end it.

Shameful and disgusting.

@IsraeliPM,@special_royal,@SecBlinken,@UN_Spokesperson, @alishihabi, @JosepBorrellF  #israel, #palestine,#jordan, #saudiarabia, #middleeast

Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”

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

LinkedIn blots out comments on Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

LinkedIn operating systems have seemingly enabled 10 of my published comments to be erased during a discussion with a Geopolitical Risk Analyst requesting his assessment of the threat to world peace posed by the continuing failure of the United Nations (UN) to acknowledge the existence of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution published on June 8. 2022.

Hopefully LinkedIn can explain how this could happen without first obtaining my consent.

Many letters written by me to UN Secretary-General Guterres in the last 8 months seeking to know why a complete blanket of silence has descended over the UN following publication of the Saudi-based Plan remain unacknowledged and unanswered.

The UN needs to urgently consider the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution as an alternative to the failed two-state solution first proposed in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative - which celebrated New York Times political analyst Thomas Friedman has described as being “in hospice”.

This LinkedIn incident occurred on the site of a private special interest group comprising 125000+ members - called the International Relations (IR) and Affairs Group [IRAG]

Operating worldwide since 2009 - the objectives of the Group are highly commendable:

“At the International Relations and Affairs Group we research foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs). We focus on geopolitical analysis, globalization, international policy issues and apply qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Our focus is analyzing, as well as formulating solutions to issues with foreign policy, cultural interaction, crisis and others. We also work to globally network members and collaborate for consulting.”

I applied to join the group and was accepted as a member on January 10, 2023.

I had been a member of another LinkedIn special interest group - International Relations Professional Discussions - with 24748 members - until the Administrator booted me from it on September 21, 2022 after I posted this final plea to retain my membership:

“The KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] has not voiced one word of disapproval since [author] Shihabi’s plan [The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine] was released three months ago. Why - when one word would have consigned Shihabi’s plan to the diplomatic shredder.

The publication of Shihabi’s plan in Al-Arabiya news - 60% owned by the Saudi Government could have easily been refused - but was not. Why?

Jordan, the PLO and Hamas have not expressly rejected Shihabi’s Plan. Why?

Are you really going to prevent any discussion on the UN possibly replacing its failed 19 year solution to ending the Arab-Jewish conflict with Shihabi’s Plan?

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the Confederation Plan of Yossi Beilin and Hiba Husseini as a "useful contribution to try and achieve a lasting solution to the conflict"

Why does Guterres not accord Shihabi's plan the same recognition?

I am not on my own in questioning the UN continuing to push its failed 19 years-old policy.

Please read the article in Al Jazeera--"It is time Israel, the West admit the two-state solution is dead" https://www.aljazeera.com/opin...

I hope you rethink your position before you decide to kick me out."

Given this background - I was happy when a Geopolitical Risk Analyst member in IRAG chose to engage with me - but shocked 21 published comments exchanged between us could seamlessly disappear into thin air.

I have now asked the other 125000+ members:

Would any members of this group like to read the Saudi plan and publish their own analysis of it? The Plan can be read here: The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine.

Successful implementation of this Saudi-based proposal - endorsed by the UN - can end a conflict that has lasted 100 years.

Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”

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