New York Times remains silent on Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

The New York Times (NYT) continues its year-long failure to report on or analyze the 2022 Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution to replace the failed two-state solution proposed by:

• The 2002 Saudi-inspired Arab Peace Initiative and
• The 2016 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.

In her latest article: Spiraling Violence in the Occupied West Bank Signals a Loss of Control--NYT Reporter Isabel Kershner writes:

The Palestinian Authority, the interim body formed in the mid-1990s as part of the Oslo peace process, is supposed to exercise limited self-rule in parts of the occupied West Bank, with security forces numbering about 60,000 members. But it is absent from the hotbeds of Palestinian militancy in the northern part of the territory such as Jenin and Nablus and appears, experts say, to have all but abdicated responsibility.

“It’s a reversal and a collapse,” said Zakaria al-Qaq, a Palestinian expert in national security. Instead of less engagement, he said, “there is total involvement between Israel and the small Palestinian factions, and the Palestinian Authority is outside of the game, on the margins, or not really there at all.”

“We are back to square one,” he added. “There is no Oslo. There is nothing.”

Incensed by Kershner’s acceptance of al-Qaq’s statement as fact - I sent NYT the following comment - which remains unpublished:

“You quote Zakaria al-Qaq, a Palestinian expert in national security as stating: “We are back to square one. There is no Oslo. There is nothing.”

Hasn't Mr al-Qaq - and you also Isabel - heard of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution published in the Saudi government-controlled Al Arabiya News on 8 June 2022 - which calls for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be ruled by the Hashemites - with its capital being in Amman - not Jerusalem?

How come the NYT has not published one word about this plan since its publication 12 months ago - whose implementation would replace the terminally dead two-state solution that has failed to achieve any result since its publication in 2002--made public at that time in the NYT by Thomas Friedman--who also has not written one word about this 2022 Saudi solution?

Endorse this latest Saudi solution or trash it if you will. But don't ignore its existence as a possible solution to end the looming humanitarian crisis spiralling out of control in the West Bank that you describe in this article.”

NYT Opinion Columnist Thomas Friedman wrote on May 25, 2021:

“I don’t expect Biden to summon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Camp David. As long as both are in power, no serious compromise is possible. But it is vital that Biden urgently take steps to re-energize the possibility of a two-state solution and give it at least some concrete diplomatic manifestation on the ground.

Because without that horizon--without any viable hope of separating Israelis and Palestinians into two states for two peoples--the only outcome left will be one state in which the Israeli majority dominates and Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank will be systematically deprived of equal rights”

The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution surfaces in Saudi Arabia in June 2022 trashing the two-state solution proposed by Saudi Arabia, the Arab League, the UN--yet the NYT still has not told its readers about this game-changing plan.

Not newsworthy enough?

Whilst Biden tries to re-energize the two-state solution--his White House lunching-buddy Friedman is warning it is:

“...in hospice. Only a miracle cure could save it now“

Meanwhile NYT fiddles as the West Bank burns....

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

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Saudi US-Embassy tries to bury Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution

Saudi Embassy Spokesperson in Washington--Fahad Nazer--has tried to bury the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (Saudi Solution)--first published in the Saudi Government-controlled Al-Arabiya News on June 8, 2022 and then subsequently amended.

The Saudi Solution’s author is Ali Shihabi--a confidant of Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS).

Shihabi himself spent two years in Washington--having founded the Arabia Foundation in March 2017--only to abruptly close it on July 30, 2019 in the following dramatic circumstances:

“At 10 a.m. that day, Shihabi seated himself beneath his foundation's banners for a panel discussion hosted alongside the Atlantic Council. He was typically combative throughout the event, and when it ended at 12 p.m. he stood, swiftly shook hands, and exited the stage.

Soon after, a message pinged on the Arabia Foundation's staff WhatsApp group. Everyone was to be back at the L Street office within the hour, Shihabi wrote. The foundation was closing.”

Nazer had been appointed Spokesperson for the Saudi Embassy on January 23, 2019.

Saudi Arabia’s current US Ambassador Princess Reema bint Bandar had been appointed on 23 February 2019—which was immediately welcomed by Shihabi.

Nazer’s attempt to bury the Saudi Solution came during a wide-ranging interview Nazer gave Katie Jensen on June 11, 2023--during which she asked:

“Has there been any change in the Kingdom’s position towards normalization with Israel in recent months?”

Nazer answered Jensen’s question with this response:

“Saudi Arabia’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been clear and has been consistent for many years. In fact, it was the late King Abdullah, who, way back in 2002, introduced what is now known as the Arab Peace Initiative at the Arab League Summit in Beirut in that year. And the proposal, the initiative, does offer Israel normalization with all members of the Arab states in return for a just and comprehensive peace with the Palestinians based on a two-state solution. That offer really still remains on the table. And we’re certainly hopeful that the Israelis and Palestinians do go back to the negotiating table and resolve the core dispute once and for all...”

Nazer was being deceptive and misleading:

• The Saudi Solution trashes the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative which calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian Arab state between Israel and Jordan for the first time in history (two-state solution)--replacing it with a plan to merge Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called the “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine”--to be governed by Jordan’s ruling Hashemite dynasty--with its capital in Amman--not Jerusalem.

• Analyst David Weinberg refutes Nazer’s claim:

“Every serious interlocutor I know who has spent significant time in Riyadh in recent months will tell you that Saudi leaders no longer insist on Palestinian statehood as a condition for movement towards Israel.”

• New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman concluded last December that the Biden-supported two-state solution--unachieved after 20 years of intense diplomatic activity--was “in hospice”.

The Saudi Solution is a potential game-changer.

Abandoning the late King Abdullah’s 2002 initiative--coupled with MBS not uttering one word rejecting or disapproving the Saudi Solution –– represents a major change in Saudi Arabia’s position towards normalization with Israel.

Why did Nazer ignore mentioning these recent highly-significant developments?

The possible answer: Implementing the Saudi Solution could be one of the top agenda items in the current secret negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Keeping everyone in the dark--including President Biden--gives those negotiations the best chance of success.

The Saudi Embassy’s perceived burial of the Saudi Solution is premature.

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

Google ends UN burying Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution

 

Google has ended the United Nations (UN) continuing effort to ignore the existence of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) as an alternative solution to replace the failed UN two-state solution contained in UN Security Council Resolution 2334 passed on December 23, 2016 (UNSCR 2334).

A Google search of “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine” reveals the following information — available since June 8th:

HKOPS challenges the current solution—UNSCR 2334— being unsuccessfully pursued by the United Nations—urging:

intensification and acceleration of international and regional diplomatic efforts and support aimed at achieving, without delay a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions, the Madrid terms of reference, including the principle of land for peace, the Arab Peace Initiative and the Quartet Roadmap and an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967; and underscores in this regard the importance of the ongoing efforts to advance the Arab Peace Initiative, the initiative of France for the convening of an international peace conference, the recent efforts of the Quartet, as well as the efforts of Egypt and the Russian Federation;”

After seven years of such intensive international and regional diplomatic efforts — the UN has achieved nothing. The conflict continues to intensify and the threat of a looming humanitarian crisis of major proportions continues to become more likely if the conflict is not resolved.

Out of the blue from literally nowhere — HKOPS was published in the Saudi Government-controlled Al-Arabiya News on June 8, 2022. Its author Ali Shihabi is a confidant of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) — who had been internationally shunned since his suspected involvement in the assassination of Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi — a dissident Saudi journalist who entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 and never came out.

HKOPS would have needed MBS’s endorsement before its publication in Al Arabiya News — since it trashed the Arab Peace Initiative — first proposed in 2002 — which demanded Israel affirm:

• “Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
• Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
• The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.

Including the Arab Peace Initiative in UNSCR 2334 has enabled the United Nations and many of its various agencies to become the epicentre of the world’s increasing Jew-hatred — spewing out mantras that allege:

• Jews have no legal right to live in their ancestral and biblical homeland of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)
• Jews are oppressing another people and stealing their land
• Jews have to share their eternal capital Jerusalem with another people

Successfully implementing HKOPS will end this UN-engendered Jew-hatred.

The UN needs to support the implementation of HKOPS or trash it — but can no longer simply ignore its existence as an alternative game changing solution to end 100 years of unresolved conflict between Arabs and Jews.

Continuing to deny the existence of HKOPS now represents a real threat to the United Nations credibility, its very own existence and world peace.

Thank you Google.

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

Biden in bind as Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution turns 1

 

President Biden must be feeling decidedly uncomfortable as the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) approaches its first birthday--with Israel and Saudi Arabia negotiating to possibly implement its terms - mediated by Bahrain - not the US.

HKOPS is a potential game-changing solution to end the 100 years-old Jewish-Arab conflict - its birth being first announced in the Saudi Government-controlled Al-Arabiya News on June 8, 2022.

HKOPS calls for Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to be merged into one territorial entity to be called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - to be governed by Jordan’s current-ruling Hashemite dynasty - with its capital in Amman - not Jerusalem.

Significantly HKOPS trashes the United Nations decision on December 23, 2016 to create for the first time in recorded history an independent Palestinian Arab state between Israel and Jordan with its capital located in Jerusalem - after the outgoing Obama-Biden administration - in the act of vacating the White House - failed to veto United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 (UN two-state solution).

Seven years later this UN two-state solution remains unimplemented - ready to be consigned to the diplomatic graveyard with many other solutions that failed to end the Arab-Jewish conflict.

HKOPS has had a difficult first year - surviving attempts by Biden, the United Nations, the European Union, the international media and think tanks to bury it - by simply not acknowledging its existence or discussing it as an alternative replacement for the failed UN two-state solution.

Biden’s silence seemed justified when Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid declared at the United Nations on September 22, 2022 - HKOPS then being just three months old:

“An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel’s security, for Israel’s economy and for the future of our children,”

However Lapid’s rival in the November 2022 Israeli elections--Benjamin Netanyahu--made a very different commitment to voters in October:

"The reality is that a third of [Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank], which includes biblical sites, strategic sites, and Jewish suburbs of our major cities, they're going to stay in Israel no matter what. We'd like more - possibly everything - but that's not the point. The point is everybody recognized this part will stay, so why not recognize it the way Trump recognized Jerusalem as our capital? And it's been that way for 3,000 years since King David; so why not recognize this reality too?

"We had an agreement to do that. We didn't surprise the president. We exchanged letters to that effect. On the eve of discussing the Trump plan, the president himself spoke about it. And then, not minutes later but a couple of hours later, I was surprised because this understanding didn't hold. The American government backed off. You can ask them why they backed off. But I would still try--and I will try--to resume that course if I get elected, and to get America to recognize that this moves peace forward”

Netanyahu’s election as Prime Minister gives him the opportunity to honour his commitment by successfully implementing HKOPS - which provides the possibility for all of these areas - maybe more-becoming part of Israel - even as the current Biden administration continues Trump’s back-off by stubbornly supporting the UN two-state solution which cannot possibly produce Netanyahu’s desired outcome.

Biden wants to see a peace deal concluded between Israel and Saudi Arabia by the end of 2023. The chances of this occurring will be considerably increased if Biden breaks his twelve –months silence by backing the implementation of HKOPS and ditching the failed UN two-state solution.

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

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