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

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine Solution: Alive or Dead?

 

Two seemingly contradictory news reports within the space of 48 hours have thrown into doubt the possible implementation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine Solution (HKOPS) to end the unresolved 100-year conflict between Jews and Arabs.

HKOPS emanated in Saudi Arabia and was published in the Saudi-Government controlled Al Arabiya News on 8 June 2022 – and was subsequently amended – but the amended version was not published by Al Arabiya.

HKOPS called for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into one territorial entity - to be governed by Jordan’s current Hashemite rulers – with its capital located in Amman – not Jerusalem.

The plan’s author - Ali Shihabi – a confidant of Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) – is a member of the advisory board set up by MBS to advise MBS on building a US$500 billion mega city – Neom - the size of Israel - in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

HKOPS is a potential game changer and circuit breaker since its features include:

• Trashing 21 years of Saudi Arabian and Arab League policy since 2002 calling for the creation of an independent Palestinian Arab state between Israel and Jordan on all of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) - with its capital in East Jerusalem
• Recognition of Jerusalem as the sole undivided capital of Israel
• Recognition of Jewish sovereignty in part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) for the first time in 3500 years.
• Citizenship in the newly-created entity for all Palestinian Arab refugees no matter where they currently live.

HKOPS has not been rejected in the eleven months since it was published by:

• MBS
• Jordan’s King Abdullah
• PLO Leader Mahmoud Abbas
• Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
• Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Back-channel secret talks between Israel and the PLO have fueled speculation that implementing HKOPS was included in their meetings.

On 18 May an article headlined “Biden admin pushing for Saudi-Israeli peace deal by end of year, officials say” - came as a bolt from the blue with Biden’s bold call.

The article claimed:

“Two senior U.S. officials said it's in Saudi Arabia's interest to get a normalization agreement with Israel while President Biden is in office because it would receive more bipartisan political support and legitimacy in Washington, especially when it is likely to include U.S. steps toward Saudi Arabia that would be unpopular.”

The article however contained a caveat:

“Any deal will likely include a “Palestinian component” that Israel will have to agree to. The Saudis said publicly that normalization with Israel will take place only if there is progress on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. It is unclear what the Saudis and the U.S. will ask for and how far Netanyahu’s far-right government will go to secure a deal.”

Successfully implementing HKOPS seemed the obvious deal that Israel would be asked to negotiate to gain a full peace with Saudi Arabia.

48 hours later that expectation was dashed when the 32nd Regular Session of the Arab League Council - held in Jeddah at the Summit Level under the Chairmanship of MBS - repeated its failed 21 years- old mantra:

“We stress the importance of intensifying efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just settlement to the Palestinian issue and find real grounds for achieving peace based on the two-state solution in accordance with international references, mainly the Arab Peace Initiative, relevant international resolutions and the principles of international law, to ensure the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on Palestinian territory on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Ditching HKOPS will only serve to perpetuate the Jewish-Arab conflict – not end it.

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 needs to back Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution

 

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s visit to Saudi Arabia this weekend for talks with Saudi leaders - including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – will offer Sullivan an excellent opportunity to discuss with the Crown Prince the Saudi –based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution published on June 8, 2022.

Sullivan told the Washington Institute the US was still working toward a deal to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“Ultimately, getting to full normalization is a declared national security interest of the United States. We have been clear about that. Now as a sign of my seriousness about how much we’re focused on this, and how seriously we are taking this, I am not going to say anything further lest I upset the efforts we are undertaking on this issue.”

The pathway to such full normalization involves a resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

However this does not necessarily involve the creation of a new State between Israel and Jordan – as the New York Times reported on March 9th:

“Saudi officials have said they cannot forge normal relations with Israel — a step that would include formal diplomatic interactions and likely also trade and travel agreements — before a Palestinian state is established. But some people familiar with the discussions said they believe the Saudis, who have been building closer unofficial ties to Israel, would settle for less than that. “

The “less than that” could involve implementing the Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution published in the Saudi Government-controlled Al Arabiya News on June 8, 2022 - calling for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called “The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine” – to be ruled by the Hashemites – with its capital being in Amman – not Jerusalem (Saudi Solution).

The Plan was authored by Ali Shihabi – a confidant of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and a member of the Crown Prince’s advisory board on Neom – a $500 billion megacity of the future being constructed in north-western Saudi Arabia on an area of land the size of Israel.

This Saudi Solution:

• Trashes the creation of a new state between Israel and Jordan – pursued by both the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Hamas for decades – and still by the Biden administration
• Shreds Saudi Foreign Policy adopted for the last 20 years – and adopted by the Arab Peace Initiative - calling for Israel to totally withdraw from Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and enable the creation of a Palestinian state there - with its capital being in Jerusalem
• Involves the Hashemites – not the PLO or Hamas - returning to govern part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) – as the Hashemites did between 1950 and 1967.
• Recognizes Israeli sovereignty in part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) for the first time in 3500 years.

Remarkably Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Arab League Secretary Ahmed Aboul Gheit have not rejected this Saudi-solution in the eleven months since its publication – despite its reversal of their respective long-pursued policies.

Sullivan told the Washington Institute:

“And we are working to strengthen and expand the Abraham Accords, supporting Israel’s ultimate, final, complete integration into the Middle East region and the world. And this will be an area of continuing emphasis and focus for us over the coming period as we look to add more countries and to bring Israel even more deeply into the web of relationships in the Middle East and beyond.”

Biden’s backing for the Saudi Solution could be the circuit breaker and game changer needed to make this happen.

@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

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

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

Secret talks paving way for Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

The bombshell revelation that senior aides of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have been holding secret talks for almost two months further confirms the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO) acceptance of the Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (Saudi Solution) as the basis for negotiating an end to 100 years of conflict between Arabs and Jews.

Such talks indicate the PLO has seemingly returned to its 1964 founding-Charter’s roots by no longer claiming sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) - a position the PLO only reversed in 1968 after Jordan’s loss of that territory to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.

The Saudi Solution is breathtaking in the outcomes it promises - if implemented:

• Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) will be merged into one territorial entity governed by the current Hashemite rulers of Jordan - with its capital being located in Amman -not Jerusalem
• The total shredding of the failed two-state solution adopted by the United Nations since the passage of Security Council Resolution 2334 on December 23, 2016
• The end of the 2002 Saudi Arabian proposal announced by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and subsequently adopted as the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative - calling for full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since June 1967 and Israel's acceptance of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital - in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel
• Recognition of Israeli sovereignty in part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) for the first time in 3000 years.

Since its publication on June 8, 2022 in the Saudi Government-controlled Al Arabiya News - the Saudi Solution - authored by Ali Shihabi - a confidant of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman - has not been rated newsworthy or significant enough to be mentioned by:

• the international media,
• only two other political analysts - one of them after my urging
• any international think tanks and
• the United Nations

Amazingly - Jordan’s King Abdullah, Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh, PLO Leader Mahmoud Abbas and Saudi Crown Prince - now Prime Minister - Mohammed Bin Salman - have not rejected the Saudi Solution in the last nine months - even though it clearly departs from the policies each of them has been espousing for decades.

These secret back-channel talks appear to have been deliberately leaked at this particular point of time for one reason: The threat posed to Netanyahu and Abbas concluding successful negotiations on implementing the Saudi Solution caused by Israel’s High Court of Justice demanding the Israeli Government produce a plan by April 2 for the demolition and evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar - an illegal Bedouin herding encampment in Area C of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) presently under Israel’s full security and administrative control.

Demolition of thousands of other illegally built Arab structures in Area C could follow - triggering violent PLO-Arab outrage causing a complete breakdown in negotiations to implement the Saudi Solution.

Netanyahu needs to persuade the Court to extend its April 2nd deadline to free himself from the negotiating straightjacket into which the Court has placed him.

The tenth adjournment of the Khan al-Ahmar case since 2018 will be easier for Netanyahu to obtain when the Court is informed that negotiations are being held with Abbas to prevent the demolition and evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar. 

PLO-Arab fears will also have been publicly assuaged.

Allocating sovereignty in part of Area C to the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine would spare most of those presently-illegal Arab buildings from demolition.

The Saudi Solution remains on track … the media and the UN remain dumbstruck

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

Jordan PLO & Hamas revise Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine Plan

 

The Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine plan (Saudi Plan) - initially published in Al Arabiya News on 8 June 2022 - has been revised in a later document containing amendments that appear to have been made at the request of and agreed to by Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Hamas - the three parties most affected if the Saudi Plan is successfully implemented. 

The revised version has not been published in Al Arabiya News or on any other news site. It is written in Arabic - but an English translation - a copy of which is in the writer’s possession - is very informative in clarifying certain parts of the original version which were apparently vague or unacceptable to Jordan, the PLO and Hamas.

The Saudi Plan 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. This plan trashes the creation of an independent Palestinian Arab State between Israel and Jordan - the solution proposed by:

• The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, 
• The United Nations - after adopting Security Council Resolution 2334 in 2016, 
• The 2020 Trump Peace Plan - and 
• Jordan and the PLO since the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords

The major changes to the published version of the Saudi Plan made in the revised version are:

• The area of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to be included in the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - approximately 70% in the published version - has been reduced to about 30% in the revised version. 

This concession would purportedly weaken Israel’s claim to sovereignty in the Jordan Valley - 87% of which is situated in Area C - currently under Israel’s full administrative and security control.

The possibility that Israel could regain sovereignty in up to 90% of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) for the first time in 3000 years - with Jordan, PLO and Hamas consensus - is a potential game changer.

• The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - will be under Hashemite rule. The original version did not designate who would be its ruler. 

• Important changes have been made in relation to Jerusalem:

The original version states: 

"The formal relinquishment of any claims to Jerusalem (with an appropriate arrangement for the holy places)" will be "a key bargaining chip in Palestinian hands".

The revised version states:

"The formal renunciation of Jerusalem (while giving the Holy Places special status)" will be a major bargaining chip in the hands of the Palestinians."

Sole Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem is now promised - if agreement on all other issues can be resolved. 

Under the radar contact already commenced between Israel and Saudi Arabia will certainly focus on implementing the revised version - not the published version. 

I reached out to the author of both the original and revised versions - Ali Shihabi - asking him to explain why his original published plan was substantially revised and not published. 

I offered to publish his reasons verbatim in an article which I would submit to him to approve before publication. Shihabi has not replied to my request. 

Shihabi might be more forthcoming if contacted by any of the following - who have not even acknowledged the existence of the Saudi Plan since its original publication:

• Joe Biden, 
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, 
• New York Times Op Ed writer Thomas Friedman 
• Any reporter with Shihabi’s cell phone number.
• Private think tanks, 
• Israeli Non-Government Organisations, 
• Investigative journalists 

The failure of Jordan, the PLO or Hamas to reject the Saudi Plan since its initial publication seven months ago is explained by their agreement to the changes made in the revised version.

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.

Security Council should adopt Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

The United Nations Security Council needs to urgently consider adopting  the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution - following the warning delivered on December 19th by Tor Wennesland – UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Process. 

Addressing the Security Council Wennesland advised:

“Clashes, protests, attacks, Israeli security operations, including in Area A, and settler-related violence have continued. In 2022 to date, over one hundred and fifty Palestinians and more than twenty Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and Israel, the highest numbers of fatalities in years”

Wennesland was concerned that  Security Council Resolution 2334 passed on December 23, 2016 had failed to achieve its objective six years later: the creation of an independent Palestinian Arab State between Israel and Jordan (two-State solution).

 Wennesland unwisely chose to blame Israel:

“Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, remains deeply concerning. Settlements constitute a flagrant violation of United Nations resolutions and international law. They undermine the prospects of achieving a two-State solution by systematically eroding the possibility of establishing a contiguous, independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian State.”

He reminded the Security Council:

"As I told the Council in my briefing last month, seeking to freeze this conflict or manage it in perpetuity are not viable options. There is no substitute for a legitimate political process that will resolve the core issues driving the conflict."

Wennesland was correct but his proposed recommendation for “a legitimate political process” fell far short of what is required:

“In line with the recommendations that I made to this Council in November, I urge the parties, along with regional States and the broader international community to take concrete steps that will change the negative trajectory on the ground and have an immediate impact on Palestinian and Israeli lives, while, at the same time, ensuring these steps are anchored in a political framework that moves the parties forward towards the establishment of two States.”

Clinging to the failed two-State solution 6 years after its endorsement by Security Council Resolution 2334 and 20 years after first being proposed by the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative – is a futile exercise.  

Wennesland’s recommendation will only see the conflict being indefinitely perpetuated – not ended.  

The Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution published on June 8, 2022 (Saudi Solution) has amazingly never been mentioned or discussed in the Security Council. 

It will dramatically  “change the negative trajectory on the ground “:

• It challenges the Security Council’s pointless pursuit of the two-State  solution by calling for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine having its capital in Amman and being ruled by Jordan’s current Hashemite ruler – King Abdullah
• The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and 2003 Oslo Accords are superseded.
• Arab populations living in Gaza, the West Bank and the refugee camps in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon will become citizens of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine.
• Sovereignty in the West Bank will be divided between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
• Its author – Ali Shihabi – is a confidant of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister – Mohammed Bin Salman.
• Publication of the plan in the Saudi Government–controlled Al-Arabiya News overrules current Saudi policy - strongly suggesting Mohammed Bin Salman’s approval was first obtained.
• King Abdullah (Jordan), Mahmoud Abbas (Palestinian Authority), Ismail Haniyeh (Hamas) Mohammed Bin Salman (Saudi Arabia) and Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel) have not expressly rejected the solution in the six months since its publication.
• Its successful implementation can end the 100 years-old Arab -Jewish conflict.

Adopting the Saudi Solution to replace the failed two-State solution is needed to arrest this worsening humanitarian nightmare. 

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.

Bibi forced to move early on Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine plan

 

Bibi Netanyahu's time for confirmation as Israel's next Prime Minister runs out on December 21st after six weeks of the tail wagging the dog - parties with few Knesset members using their small but strategic numbers to try to extract concessions from Netanyahu for their support - that Netanyahu has obviously been resisting. 

Faced with this looming reality - Netanyahu has been forced to move early on his election promise made to Israeli voters on October 22nd:

"I think the big prize is peace with Saudi Arabia, which I intend to achieve if I go back into office… The rise of Israeli power facilitated the Abraham Accords, and the continual nurturing of Israeli power will also nurture a broader peace with Saudi Arabia and nearly all of the rest of the Arab world. I intend to bring the Arab-Israeli conflict to a close."

In an extraordinary 52 minute interview on Saudi Government-controlled Al Arabiya TV on 15 December - Netanyahu pointed out for the benefit of those Israeli political party leaders who are his main stumbling blocks to becoming Prime Minister - the opportunity Israel would miss to end the 100 years-old Arab-Jewish conflict - if Netanyahu is not Israel's next Prime Minister. He warned them:

"The other parties are joining me. I'm not joining them"

Netanyahu –repeating his election promise - told Al Arabiya:

"I think the peace with Saudi Arabia will serve two purposes: It will be a quantum leap for an overall peace between Israel and the Arab world, it will change our region in ways that are unimaginable and I think it will facilitate, ultimately, a Palestinian-Israeli peace. I believe in that. I intend to pursue it."

Netanyahu continued: 

"The reason we've not had an Israeli-Palestinian peace is because the Palestinian… leadership for the last century has refused to do what is finally happening in the rest of the Arab world -- and that is to recognize that the State of Israel is here to stay."

A new solution to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace authored by Ali Shihabi - a close confidant of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister -Mohammed Bin Salman - was published by Al Arabiya news on June 8, 2022--but has amazingly received virtually no mention or scrutiny in the international media or at the United Nations in the six months since its release. 

The plan recognises:

"Israel is a reality firmly implanted on the ground that has to be accepted  ..."

The plan calls for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into one territorial entity to be called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine with unrestricted citizenship being offered to the Arab populations of Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank and the refugee camps located in Syria and Lebanon.

Netanyahu - significantly –told Al Arabiya viewers:

"I think coming to a solution with the Palestinians will require out of the box thinking, will require new thinking."

The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution is certainly the most creative plan ever proposed to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict--its author declaring:

"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."

Netanyahu is offering his potential coalition partners a choice: Drop demands Bibi cannot accept and back him in as Prime Minister or miss this best opportunity ever to end the unresolved 100 years-old Jewish-Arab conflict. 

December 21st is Israel's Judgement Day. 

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.

Israel set to uncork Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine genie at UN

 

Israel is readying to uncork the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine genie at the United Nations - ending UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Process Torr Wennesland’s efforts to keep the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine Solution (Saudi Solution) from being discussed as a replacement for the failed UN 20 years-old two state solution. 

The Saudi Solution was published on 8 June 2022 in the Saudi Government-controlled Al Arabiya News. Its author - Ali Shihabi - advises Saudi Arabia’s King-designate, Crown Prince and Prime Minister - Mohammed Bin Salman - on the development of Neom - a new $500 billion mega city the size of Israel

The Saudi Solution calls for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into one territorial entity to be called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - having its capital in Amman -not Jerusalem. 

It supersedes the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative - spawned by Saudi Arabia and embraced by the UN -which calls for:

"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."

The UN stands to become totally irrelevant if it continues to refuse to discuss the Saudi Solution following Danny Danon - Israel's former ambassador to the United Nations - claiming at the first Abraham Accords Global Leadership Summit - that Saudi Arabia may be one of the next nations to normalize relations with Israel.  

Danon stated:

"We have been in contact with the Saudis for years. I worked personally with them at the United Nations on matters of regional stability and security. It’s just a matter of time before courageous leaders step out of the shadows and full peace is achieved between all the children of Abraham. .. I expect we’ll see an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia this year"

This was good news for those seeking an end to the 100 years-old Jewish/Arab conflict - but bad news for the UN which continues to stubbornly support the two-state solution whilst refusing to even acknowledge the existence of the game-changing Saudi Solution since its publication six months ago.  

It beggars belief that on 30 November the UN General Assembly adopted five resolutions on the questions of Palestine and the Middle East without one speaker uttering the words - "Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine Solution" - whose successful implementation would see the Arab populations in Gaza, part of the West Bank and the wretched UNRWA camps in Lebanon and Syria becoming citizens of that newly-created territorial entity. 

Cheikh Niang (Senegal)- Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People - introduced its annual report containing developments relating to the question of Palestine between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 - which contained not one reference to the Saudi Solution in its 27 pages. 

Israeli Prime Minister designate Bibi Netanyahu has made his intentions crystal-clear:

"I think the big prize is peace with Saudi Arabia, which I intend to achieve if I go back into office… The rise of Israeli power facilitated the Abraham Accords, and the continual nurturing of Israeli power will also nurture a broader peace with Saudi Arabia and nearly all of the rest of the Arab world. I intend to bring the Arab-Israeli conflict to a close."

The 2022 Saudi Solution offers Israel:

• sole sovereignty in Jerusalem, 
• sovereignty in part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and 
• abandonment of the 74 years-old Arab claim to return to Israel

The UN must respond to the hope of peace offered by the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine genie.  

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.

NYT needs to end silence on Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

The visit to Hebron this week by New York Times (NYT) columnist Thomas Friedman and Kathleen Kingsbury, The New York Times' Opinion Editor could see the NYT finally breaking its silence on the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine proposal published in the Saudi Arabian government-controlled Al Arabiya News on June 8, 2022. 

This new plan is certainly newsworthy: 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 governed by the Hashemite dynasty that has ruled Jordan for the last 100 years and will have its capital located in Amman – not Jerusalem (Saudi Plan).

The NYT is not on its own.  

The international media has almost universally ignored the Saudi Plan – which supersedes the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative – originally formulated by Thomas Friedman himself - as his NYT op-ed dated 17 February 2002 reveals:

"Earlier this month, I wrote a column suggesting that the 22 members of the Arab League, at their summit in Beirut on March 27 and 28, make a simple, clear-cut proposal to Israel to break the Israeli-Palestinian impasse: In return for a total withdrawal by Israel to the June 4, 1967, lines, and the establishment of a Palestinian state, the 22 members of the Arab League would offer Israel full diplomatic relations, normalized trade and security guarantees. Full withdrawal, in accord with U.N. Resolution 242, for full peace between Israel and the entire Arab world. Why not?"

Friedman was surprised when he dared mention his idea to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler – Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud - at a dinner a few days later

"After I laid out this idea, the crown prince looked at me with mock astonishment and said, ''Have you broken into my desk?'' ''No,'' I said, wondering what he was talking about... ''... I have drafted a speech along those lines. My thinking was to deliver it before the Arab summit and try to mobilize the entire Arab world behind it. The speech is written, and it is in my desk.  

Friedman then proffered this advice to the Crown Prince:

"I suggested to the crown Prince that if he felt so strongly about this idea, even in draft form, why not put it on the record--only then would anyone take it seriously. He said he would think about it. The next day his office called, reviewed the crown prince's quotations and said, Go ahead, put them on the record. So here they are."

Thus was born the Friedman-inspired 2002 Arab Peace Initiative - which has gone nowhere in the last 20 years. 

The 2022 Saudi Plan - authored by Ali Shihabi - a close confidant of Saudi Arabia's current Crown Prince and de facto ruler  – Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) –shreds Friedman's 2002 idea – offering in its place a drastically different solution to end the 100 years-old Jewish-Arab conflict - if negotiations to implement it are successfully completed.

Yet Friedman has not written one word about Shihabi's proposal in the six months since its publication--despite my personal request to him to do so. Sour grapes perhaps?  

However why has the NYT not informed its readers of this Saudi Plan - that also offers Israel sole sovereignty in Jerusalem and in part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)? If that's not front page news--what is? 

Could a well-resourced NYT investigative journalist with Saudi contacts find out whether a plan similar to Shihabi's is in MBS's desk or ask MBS directly whether he endorses Shihabi's plan? 

Thomas Friedman and Kathleen Kingsbury – some answers and an op-ed please. 

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 ending Jew-bashing at UN

 

The United Nations favourite sport - Jew bashing - was on full display this past week at the 77th Session of the United Nations Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) - which approved six draft resolutions - all highly critical of Israel. 

One of these draft resolutions - approved by 98 voting in favour to 17 against, - with 52 abstentions--was titled "Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem" (document A/C.4/77/L.12/Rev.1).

By its terms, the UN General Assembly would demand that Israel cease: 

"all measures that violate the human rights of the Palestinian people, including the killing and injuring of civilians, the arbitrary detention and imprisonment of civilians, the forced displacement of civilians, the transfer of its own population into the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem" 

and that:

"the General Assembly should request the International Court of Justice to render urgently an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967"

Vituperative verbal attacks on the Jewish State made by Bangladesh, Venezuela, South Africa, Iran, Libya, Niger, Türkiye, Algeria, Brunei Darussalam, Namibia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Japan, Qatar, Lebanon, Sudan, Malaysia and Yemen ensured Jew-bashing would continue at the United Nations whilst the 100 years-old Arab-Jewish conflict remains unresolved. 

Yet the implementation of a recently-published proposal that could end that conflict and similar future acrimonious debates was never raised or discussed. 

That proposal - published on June 8, 2022 in the Saudi Government-controlled Al Arabiya News by Ali Shihabi - a confidant of Crown Prince and Saudi Arabian Prime Minister - Mohammed Bin Salman (Saudi Solution):

• Recognises Israel is a reality firmly implanted on the ground that has to be accepted, however grudgingly, by the region around it.
• Calls for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - with its capital in Amman - not Jerusalem - to be governed by the current Hashemite dynasty ruling in Jordan
• Supersedes the 2002 Saudi-inspired Arab Peace Initiative
• Ends the 74 years old Palestinian Arab claim to the right of return to live in Israel.
• Grants citizenship and passports to all Arab residents living within the new entity's borders 
• Does not require any of the entity's population to pack up and move elsewhere. 
• Offers Palestinian Arab refugees the right to resettle there and acquire citizenship
• Recognises sole Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem
• Affirms Jordan's custodianship of the Islamic Holy Sites in Jerusalem

Successful implementation of this Saudi Solution would immeasurably free up the UN's time to deal with other unresolved and emerging world conflicts. 

The fact that this ground-breaking and - indeed revolutionary - Saudi Solution has never been discussed by the UN General Assembly, Security Council or any of its Committees - its very existence not even being acknowledged by any of them - is a damning indictment on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Torr Wennesland. 

The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People - whose 2022 Annual Report fails to mention the Saudi Solution - is also expressly complicit. 

The UN has become hopelessly conflicted - burying the Saudi Solution rather than considering it to replace its owned failed two-state solution to create an independent Palestinian Arab state between Israel and Jordan that has gone nowhere in the last 20 years. 

Failure to examine and evaluate the Saudi Solution threatens the UN's relevance and continued existence. 

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.

MBS & King Abdullah keep Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine alive

 

Non-participation by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister – Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)  – and Jordan’s King Abdullah at the 31st Summit of the Arab League held in Algiers on 1 and 2 November – even via Zoom  - was highly significant – signalling that the Saudi-based plan to merge  Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine (HKoP solution) still remains a viable solution to replace the failed 20 years-old two-state solution proposed by the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative (API) - endorsed yet again in Algiers. 

Saudi Arabia, the EU, and the Arab League had previously held a closed ministerial meeting on 21 September to activate the API - given the absence of any prospect for a political resolution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This September meeting followed publication of the HKoP solution in Al Arabiya News on 8 June – amazingly attracting no mention at the UN and scant attention in the international media and more importantly within Israel and Israel’s media. 

The HKoP solution was certainly newsworthy since it offered Israel:

• Sole sovereignty in Jerusalem
• Abandonment of the right of Palestinian Arabs to return to Israel
• No separate Palestinian State between Israel and Jordan
• The shelving of the API 
• Sovereignty in part of the West Bank for the first time in 3000 years.

The HKoP solution also offered the Arab populations of Gaza, the West Bank and Palestinian Arab refugees in other locations:

• “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.”
• “Palestinians in Arab countries like Lebanon can then become citizens of this enlarged kingdom while also getting full residency rights in Lebanon, equivalent to what an EU citizen has in the European Union outside his or her home country. This would allow the Palestinians to gain full civil rights as legal foreign residents without impacting the local political or sectarian balance in these countries. The GCC, the EU, the US, Canada, and others can also help support this solution by granting this Jordanian–Palestinian passport easier access to their labor markets.”

The Saudi proposal’s author - Ali Shihabi – is a confidant of MBS and a member of the Advisory Board  appointed by MBS to report to him on the building of a new US$500 billion mega city – Neom - in northern Saudi Arabia bordering Israel. 

Shihabi had lamented on the absence of a response from any Israeli politician to his plan on 14 August. This lack of Israeli interest was ongoing when the 21 September meeting agreed:

“to work with regional and international partners to shed light on the tragic situation of the Palestinians in light of the deadlock in the peace process and the absence of any glimmer of hope and to urge them to take practical steps to support the resumption of dialogue on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative, United Nations resolutions and relevant peace references, in addition to reviving the diplomatic track to overcome the despair and lack of a vision toward achieving the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and establishing their state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

MBS was not at this meeting but was subsequently appointed Saudi Arabia’s Prime Minister on 27 September. MBS, 

King Abdullah, PLO Leader Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh have not rejected the HKoP solution. 

MBS and King Abdullah’s non-participation at Algiers offers the glimmer of hope that the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine can soon become a conflict-ending reality. 

 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.

Jordan - PLO - Hamas - UN - EU coy on Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

Jordan, Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Hamas, United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) now have to choose between two very different two-state solutions to end the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict.

The first:

 

Unsuccessfully pursued by the United Nations for the last 19 years – was renewed again at the sidelines of the 77th Annual Meeting of the General Assembly on 21 September:

"The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, France, Germany and Jordan met in New York today in the presence of special guests Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process [UNSCMEP –ed] Tor Wennesland, to consult and coordinate their policies with a view to advancing the Middle East Peace Process towards a just, comprehensive and lasting peace on the basis of the two-state solution..."

..."We emphasize that the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of the two-state solution is indispensable for comprehensive peace in the region. We remain firmly committed to enabling and supporting all efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace in the Middle East based on international law, relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and agreed parameters, including the Arab Peace Initiative. 

We reiterate our conviction that only a negotiated two-state solution based on June 4, 1967 lines, and consistent with relevant UN Security Council resolution ensuring an independent, contiguous and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel, can fulfil the legitimate aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians."

The second:

Far murkier in its provenance - was published in Al Arabiya News on 8 June 2022:

"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.

The most logical vehicle for this redefinition and hence for the solution to the Palestine problem is the kingdom of Jordan. Over the last seventy-five years, Jordan has developed into a relatively well-governed state, although the impact of regional political turmoil has caused it to fail economically and become heavily reliant on foreign aid for its survival. It is this Jordanian governance infrastructure that needs to be captured and put to productive use in integrating the millions of Palestinians and Jordanians into a modern, reasonably well-functioning state that would, in an era of real peace and economic integration with Jordan's neighbors, have a much higher chance of growth and prosperity.

This proposed enlarged kingdom would include present-day Jordan, Gaza, and the West Bank (areas populated by Palestinians attached in a contiguous manner and physically connected to Jordan, i.e., not broken up into islands)."

The author Ali Shihabi is a close confidante of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Zalman – Saudi Arabia's next King designate. Al Arabiya News is reportedly 60% owned by the Saudi Government. 

This plan shreds the 1981 and 2002 Saudi Peace Plans and 1980 EU Venice Declaration.

Jordan's King Abdullah, PLO Leader Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and the EU have not uttered one word rejecting this Saudi alternative plan since its publication.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UNSCMEP Tor Wennesland have refused to discuss or even acknowledge the Saudi Plan's existence.

Israeli politicians: choose either - or neither. Being coy is no longer an option.

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.

UN must evaluate Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution

 

The General Debate of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly to be held from 20 to 26 September will not be hearing the words “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine” mentioned even once by the Heads of State and Government meeting at the UN Headquarters for their annual talkfest to discuss world issues. 

All these high-powered speakers will continue to bury any discussion of the peace proposal emanating from Saudi Arabia and published in Al-Arabiya News on 8 June 2022 calling for:

• Jordan, Gaza, and part of the West Bank to be merged into one separate territorial entity to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine 
• The capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine to be Amman – not Jerusalem
• The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine to grant Citizenship to all stateless Palestinian Arabs 
• Jewish sovereignty being established in part of the West Bank for the first time in 3000 years

This Saudi proposal offers a new two-State solution: Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine –with Israel sovereign in about 20% of former Palestine and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine sovereign in about the remaining 80%. 

Saudi Plan author – Ali Shihabi – was brutally frank in explaining why it was time to look at this possibly game-changing solution:

“We have seen from recent experience that state building is a virtually impossible task, particularly in a polarized environment so creating a “Palestinian State” from scratch is a fool's errand...  Yes, a false separate “Jordanian” identity has developed over the last decades from what is really a people with zero differences, ethnic or religious that have been one people since time immemorial..." 

The Annual Report of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People highlights the UN's continuing failure to progress its two-State solution:

“Throughout the reporting period, [2 September 2021 to 31 August 2022] the realization of the two-State solution, as per the relevant United Nations and the prevailing international consensus, failed to advance. The Middle East Peace Process (MEPP) did not resume, and the Middle East Quartet did not create opportunities for negotiations between Israel and the State of Palestine”

The Report misleadingly states:

“The stalled MEPP and the lack of new initiatives to benefit the Palestinian people's quest for self-determination have highlighted the need for enhanced global cooperation to reinvigorate negotiations and provide a political horizon leading to a just solution to the Question of Palestine and lasting peace”.

A new initiative and political horizon for a just solution to the Question of Palestine has emerged: The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution. 

This latest initiative seriously challenges the two-State solution unsuccessfully pursued by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland during their respective tenures - and by the UN for the last 19 years: Creating a brand-new Palestinian Arab state between Israel and Jordan for the first time in recorded history 

Both Guterres and Wennesland have stubbornly refused to present this Saudi initiative to the Security Council for evaluation since its publication. Regrettably hubris has prevented them doing so. It is hard to admit that there might be an alternative solution to the one you have been claiming for years is the only solution.

Ending the 100 years-old conflict between Jews and Arabs - rather than perpetuating that conflict by continuing to pursue a decades-old failed solution – should be Guterres' and Wennesland's joint mantra. 

Guterres and Wennesland: Relent and recognise that the UN two-State solution is dead – that the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution to replace it needs to be evaluated by the Security Council. 

Doing so could change the course of history. 

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 & Blinken silent on Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

In the Arab-Israel conflict where every word is dissected and analysed to see whether there could be any change of policy - the use of the words “a two state solution” instead of “the President’s two-state solution” could well signal President Biden’s abandonment of his own two-state solution – Israel and Palestine - in favour of a Saudi two-state solution – Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine. 

Such speculation has arisen following this State Department Media Note issued on 4 September:

“The Assistant Secretary will travel to Israel and the West Bank September 1-3 to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials to discuss a range of priorities, including the ... Administration’s continued support for a two-state solution.

Was the State Department referring to “the two-state solution” articulated by President Biden on 15 July?

“President Biden ... 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."

Or was the State Department referring to a different two-state solution  – Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine – emanating from Saudi Arabia on 8 June 2022 - calling for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one single territorial entity to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine? 

The Saudi plan’s author – Ali Shihabi - is a confidante of Saudi Arabia’s next King – Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. Shihabi’s Plan was published in Al Arabiya News – owned 60% by the Saudi Government. This latest Saudi plan supersedes the 1981 and 2002 Saudi Peace Plans.  

The rationale for creating the Saudi-proposed merged state as against the Biden-proposed brand new state was recently explained by Shihabi: 

“We have seen from recent experience that state building is a virtually impossible task, particularly in a polarized environment - so creating a “Palestinian State” from scratch is a fool’s errand. At the same time Jordan is a decently run country by regional standards and hence its government infrastructure can be used to incorporate 'Palestine' which will instantly have a globally recognized and respected government with all the basics like security, government bureaucracy etc.”

Shihabi’s two-state solution – if implemented – would consign Biden’s two-state solution – “a fool’s errand” says Shihabi - to the diplomatic graveyard. 

Significantly - Palestinian Authority President Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Hamas leaders have not voiced any objection to the Saudi proposal since its June publication. Rejection by any of them would have stopped the Saudi plan in its tracks. 

I sought State Department clarification on 6 September:

“I refer to the Peace Plan emanating from Saudi Arabia published in the Al Arabiya Times on 8 June 2022 proposing the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine (Saudi Plan): https://english.alarabiya.net/in-translation/2022/06/08/The-Hashemite-Kingdom-of-Palestine 

Could you please advise in relation to Secretary of State Blinken: 

1. When he first became aware of the Saudi plan? 

2. Has he commented on the Saudi plan since its release on 8 June 2022? 

3. If so – when and where were such comments published? 

4. If he has made no comment – would he like to make any comment on the Saudi plan that I can publish verbatim and attribute to him in an article I am writing on the Saudi Plan? 

I would appreciate a reply within the next 72 hours."

The State Department has yet to reply.  

Biden and Blinken’s silence is baffling.

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.