Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine to control Jerusalem holy sites

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's surprise visit to see King Abdullah in Amman last week was made to assure Abdullah that custodianship of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem would be vested in the newly-created entity to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - should the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria be implemented (Saudi Solution). 

Jordan is the custodian of the Islamic holy sites under the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace treaty. King Abdullah needed to know that implementation of the Saudi Solution would result in the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine becoming the successor custodian - not Saudi Arabia. 

Netanyahu's visit took place as direct contacts between Israel and Saudi Arabia have been reported. Saudi Arabia's consent would have been provided to enable Netanyahu to give Abdullah the assurance he needed. The Palace's statement confirmed that:

"King Abdullah stressed the importance of respecting the historical and legal status quo in Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif. His Majesty stressed the need to maintain calm and cease all acts of violence, in order to pave the way for a political horizon for the peace process, calling for an end to any measures that could undermine peace prospects" 

Netanyahu's assurance enables Abdullah to continue supporting the Saudi Solution - the only game in town currently providing a political horizon for the peace process. 

King Abdullah's concerns were not imagined - but soundly based. 

The Saudi Solution had not specifically allocated custodianship of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem to the newly-created entity - speaking only of "an appropriate arrangement for the holy places"

King Abdullah needed Netanyahu‘s assurance that Israel would support Jordan's Hashemite rulers retaining custodianship of the Islamic holy sites

This issue of custodianship was shelved again when the Saudi plan was subsequently revised in an unpublished document making major changes to the published original - speaking only of giving the holy places special status - not who would be custodian. 

The original and revised versions of the Saudi Solution had been documented prior to the Israeli elections on November 1, 2022. 

After Netanyahu's confirmation as Israel's Prime Minister - Israel's new National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, had visited the Temple Mount - the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.  

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry provocatively described his visit as:  

"the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and violation of its sanctity." 

King Abdullah needed Netanyahu‘s assurance that Israel would support Jordan's Hashemite rulers retaining custodianship of the Islamic holy sites - if Abdullah was to maintain his ongoing support for implementing the Saudi Solution. 

The Palace communique gave Abdullah an exit strategy:

"The King reaffirmed Jordan's steadfast position in support of the two-state solution, which guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with Israel in peace and security."

This was indeed King Abdullah's position prior to publication of the Saudi Solution which trashed the two-state solution - consigning it to the garbage bin of history unimplemented - after being proposed by the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002. 

Abdullah has not mentioned the two-state solution once since publication of the Saudi Solution. 

He is appearing to signal re-supporting the failed two-state solution - should Israel seek during the implementation of the Saudi Solution to renegotiate the current terms of custodianship on terms unacceptable to King Abdullah. 

The United Nations, the media and its analysts, and independent analysts have totally ignored the Saudi Solution's existence since its publication in the Saudi government-controlled Al Arabiya News on June 8, 2022. None has considered the Saudi Solution newsworthy enough to report on or analyze. It's time they did. 

Netanyahu's visit to King Abdullah indicates the Saudi Solution is being implemented on the way to hopefully becoming a reality. 

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

Lapid rejects Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution

 

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has finally emerged from the cocoon of silence that has enveloped all current 120 Knesset members - choosing to reject a solution emanating from Saudi Arabia on 8 June 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 (Saudi Solution). 

Lapid has opted instead to continue his longstanding support for the United Nations 29 years-old failed solution calling for the creation of a new State of Palestine between Israel and Jordan for the first time in recorded history (United Nations Solution)

Lapid's support was however conditional:

"We have only one condition: That a future Palestinian state will be a peaceful one. That it will not become another terror base from which to threaten the well-being, and the very existence of Israel" 

It is unclear whether Lapid had forgotten or had abandoned another condition which he had stipulated -when he told 26 European Union Foreign Ministers at the European Union Foreign Affairs Council on July 11, 2022 that:

"It is no secret that I support a two-state solution. Unfortunately, there is no current plan for this. However, there is one thing we all need to remember. If there is eventually a Palestinian State, it must be a peace-loving democracy".

With conditions such as these - the likelihood of such a Palestinian State ever emerging will be virtually impossible to achieve. 

Nevertheless Lapid has had the courage of his convictions to finally state the policy he will adopt  to try to end a conflict that has defied resolution for the last 100 years.

At least voters in the upcoming Israeli elections will know what to expect if Lapid becomes Israel's next Prime Minister on 1 November. 

The other 119 Knesset members - and those seeking to replace any of them who are retiring - continue to keep voters in the dark on what their policy will be in trying to achieve the long sought for peace to end the Jewish-Arab conflict. 

The emergence of the Saudi Solution offered these reticent politicians a real choice - yet not one of them has had the intestinal fortitude finally - if belatedly - displayed by Lapid. 

The Saudi Solution - in distinct contrast to the United Nations Solution - offers Israel the following concessions before negotiations are even commenced on implementing the proposal:

• Jerusalem will be the capitol of Israel only
• No new State will be created between Israel and Jordan 
• The right of return by Palestinian Arabs to Israel will be abandoned 
• Jewish sovereignty in part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) will be recognised for the first time in 3000 years
• Saudi Peace proposals made in 1981 and 2002 that were unacceptable to Israel will be superseded.

The universal silence by Israeli politicians on the Saudi Solution since its publication almost four months ago is shameful. 

One cannot expect every Israeli politician to embrace the Saudi Solution. They should publicly state the reasons for their opposition. 

But is there not one Israeli politician - Jew or Arab - other than Lapid - prepared to express his own opinion  on conducting negotiations to determine if agreement can be reached on the Saudi Solutions' ground breaking proposals? 

In particular why have the leaders of seventeen of the eighteeen major Israeli political parties contesting the elections - Netanyahu, Gantz, Sa'ar, Smotrich, Ben-Gvir, Deri, Litzman, Gafni, Shehadeh, Odeh, Tibi, Michaeli, Galon, Abbas, Shaked, Liberman and Hendel - refused to comment on the Saudi Solution since its publication? 

Hopefully these leaders - like Lapid - will break their silence on the Saudi Solution well before November 1. 

Leaders lead from the front - not cower and huddle silently together behind the voters whose votes they seek.

Author's note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this articl--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.