Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine: Biden’s New Horizon for Peace?

The Aqaba Joint Communique issued by the US Department of State suggests that President Biden could be jettisoning his support for UN Security Council Resolution 2334 calling for the creation of a sovereign independent Palestinian Arab State between Israel and Jordan (two-State Solution).

Resolution 2334 was born in sin on December 23, 2016 when the Obama/Biden administration failed to veto its adoption as they were packing up and vacating the White House following their electoral defeat at the hands of Donald Trump.

The UN Security Council has totally failed to advance its two-State Solution in the last six years - as well-respected analyst Thomas Friedman - writing in the New York Times - makes clear:

"A week of reporting from Israel and the West Bank has left me feeling that the prospect for a two-state solution has all but vanished. But no one wants to formally declare it dead and buried--because categorically ruling it out would have enormous ramifications. So, diplomats, politicians and liberal Jewish organizations pretend that it still has a faint heartbeat. I do as well. But we all know that the two-state option is not in a hospital. It’s in hospice. Only a miracle cure could save it now."

US Secretary of State Blinken was still flogging this dead horse on 18 February - reiterating to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu America’s support for:

“a negotiated two-state solution and opposition to policies that endangered its viability.”

Blinken was closely followed on 20 February by UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process - Tor Wennesland - pathetically repeating his monthly mantra to the Security Council:

“As we continue to work with the parties and with regional and international partners to calm tensions, we must identify and pursue every opportunity to advance our long-term goal: an end to the occupation and the establishment of two States, living side-by-side in peace and security, on the basis of the 1967 lines, in line with UN resolutions, international law and previous agreements.”

Biden’s position seemingly changed in the next seven days.

The Aqaba Joint Communique issued on February 26, 2023 following the meeting of senior officials from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the US, Jordan and Egypt significantly omitted any reference to the two-State Solution--stating instead:

“The participants stressed the importance of the Aqaba meeting, the first of its kind in years. They agreed to continue meeting under this formula, maintain positive momentum and expand this agreement towards wider political process leading to a just and lasting peace...

..They also thanked the United States for its important role in efforts to reach understandings that led to this agreement today, emphasizing its indispensable role in efforts to prevent deterioration and find horizons for peace.”

Two senior officials present in Aqaba - Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and PLO Executive Committee Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh - had been engaged in secret back-channel negotiations for the previous two months.

“Wider political process leading to a just and lasting peace” suggests they had already buried the UN two-State Solution.

Emphasizing America’s “indispensable role in efforts to prevent deterioration and find horizons for peace” suggests Biden had finally put aside his personal loathing for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and is looking at the only other solution presently on the horizon for ending the deteriorating political and security situation in Judea-Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza: The Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution published on June 8, 2022.

Meantime Biden’s lunchtime-confidant and disappointed-Saudi Whisperer Friedman sits weeping in the hospice - refusing to write one word about the Saudi plan in the ten months since its publication.

Another White House lunch with Friedman could prove to be historic...

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 & 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.

Jordan & Israel can end the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict

 

It took Jordan's King Abdullah II just a 10 minutes helicopter flight from Jordan to Ramallah on 26 March to meet Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leader Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah - itself only 15 minutes' drive from Jerusalem - Abdullah's first trip to Judea and Samaria (West Bank) since 2017.  The Arab Weekly reported on Abdullah's visit:

"Well-informed Jordanian sources have linked the previously unannounced visit of the Jordanian king to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, to the Negev Summit. They said that Jordan was uncomfortable with the new "Abrahamic" peace process between Israel and Arab countries. It particularly resents being marginalised and losing control over its most important card, the Palestinian issue."

Abdullah has only himself to blame for Jordan's growing marginalisation--abandoning the policy pursued by his great-grandfather King Abdullah I and his father King Hussein  of unifying the two Arab populations living on both sides of the Jordan River into one State between 1950 and 1967. 

Abdullah instead has been supporting the PLO demand for the creation of an independent Arab state west of the Jordan River - in addition to Jordan east of the Jordan River: two Arab states and one Jewish state within the territory comprised in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine (Mandate). 

Abdullah needs to rethink supporting the PLO's demand if he wishes to regain control of decisions to be made west of the Jordan River affecting Arabs and Jews in the last 5% of former Palestine where sovereignty still remains unallocated between Jordan and Israel after 100 years of conflict. 

Abdullah's marginalisation also risks Jordan losing its role as the custodian of the Muslim Holy Shrines in Jerusalem conferred on Jordan in 1994 by the Washington Declaration and Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty.  

Between 1950 and 1967: 

• Judea and Samaria (West Bank) - which included Ramallah - was part of Jordan - and its residents were Jordanian citizens
• The PLO did not claim regional sovereignty "over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan" or the "Gaza Strip" on its founding in 1964 - claiming only that "Palestine with its boundaries at the time of the British Mandate is a regional indivisible unit"
• Abdullah's father King Hussein - at page 118 of his published memoirs Uneasy Lies the Head (1962) - justified  continuing Jordanian rule on both sides of the Jordan River against international condemnation:

"Palestine and Jordan were both under British Mandate, but as my grandfather pointed out in his memoirs, they were hardly separate countries. Transjordan being to the east of the River Jordan, it formed in a sense, the interior of Palestine" 

Jordan comprises 78% of the territory of former Palestine whilst Judea and Samaria (West Bank) comprises just 4%.

Abdullah's visit to Ramallah took place at the same time as the Negev Summit was putting life into the Abraham Accords - Israel's Foreign Minister working with his counterparts from Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates on shared challenges and interests--along with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's encouragement and support. 

Ending the 100 years-old conflict between Arabs and Jews has become increasingly urgent with no movement in sight to create an additional Arab State west of the Jordan River after almost 30 years of failed political and diplomatic attempts and pressure from the United Nations. 

The reunification of the Arab populations living on both sides of the Jordan River - as existed between 1950 and 1967 - by re-drawing the current international border between Israel and Jordan in direct negotiations - is the kiss of life that can end the Arab-Jewish conflict.

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-Egypt negotiations with Israel could be key to peace

 

The Negev Summit (Summit) taking place on 27 and 28 March - hosted by Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid– could be the catalyst for promoting the beginning of direct negotiations - without preconditions - between Israel, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Egypt - on the allocation of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza.

Summit attendees will include:

• US Secretary for State Antony Blinken
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, 
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco Nasser Bourita, and 
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt Sameh Shoukry.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safdi will be meeting PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah during the Summit. However - according to Israel’s Channel N12 - al-Safdi may join the Summit before the event is concluded. 

On March 18 Principal Deputy Spokesperson in the US State Department--Jalina Porter--had announced Blinken’s visit to the Middle East without mentioning the Summit.   

Porter articulated the Biden Administration’s views on creating a second Palestinian Arab State in former Palestine--in addition to Jordan:

... "the Biden-Harris administration believes that there should be a viable and democratic Palestinian state living in peace alongside a Jewish and democratic state. We believe that a negotiated two-state solution is the best way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the administration has also made clear on numerous occasions that Israelis and Palestinians alike equally deserve to live in security, prosperity, and freedom."

Porter’s choice of the term "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" was unfortunate. 

A more appropriate term would have been the "Arab-Jewish conflict" which has been raging unresolved in former Palestine for more than 100 years - long before the terms "Israelis" and "Palestinians" were created in 1948 and 1964 respectively. 

In this long-running conflict - every word counts. 

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181- passed in 1947 - had called for Western Palestine - today called Israel, Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza - to be partitioned into one Arab State and one Jewish State.  This area comprised 22% of the territory in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.  Jerusalem was to become a separate entity to be governed by a special international regime.  

The remaining 78% of former Palestine - Transjordan - today called Jordan - had already achieved its independence in 1946. This area was exclusively populated by Arabs - having been excluded from Jewish settlement in 1922 by article 25 of the Mandate for Palestine. 

The Jews accepted Resolution 181 - but it was rejected by the Arabs - resulting in the invasion of Western Palestine by the armies of six Arab States - Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. 

Transjordan conquered East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and unified those areas with Transjordan to form a new territorial entity - renamed Jordan in 1950 - until these areas were lost to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.  

Egypt conquered Gaza and administered it between 1948 and 1967.  

Summit participant - Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry - held talks in Cairo three weeks ago  with Ziad Abu Amr — the Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister and PLO Executive Committee Member — and Palestinian Minister of Social Development Ahmad Majdalani. 

Shoukry then reportedly expressed the importance of continuing contact with various regional and international parties concerned in order to create the appropriate atmosphere for reviving the negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides at the earliest opportunity. 

The Summit could well be creating that appropriate atmosphere which eventually sees Jordan-PLO-Egypt negotiations with Israel to finally complete the solution first contemplated in 1922 - the division of former Palestine between Arabs and Jews.

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 backs UN racist plan to exclude Jews from East Jerusalem

Israel has a real fight on its hands in resisting President Biden’s push to re-open the US consulate in Jerusalem.

The consulate was closed on March 4, 2019 — after former President – Donald Trump—had issued a Presidential Proclamation on 6 December 2017 that saw the US Embassy moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on 14 May 2018.

Trump’s Secretary of State – Mike Pompeo – has slammed Biden’s decision:

“I think it’s illegal. We don’t have consulates in the same city we have embassies anywhere in the world… It’s unnecessary and counterproductive, and I think, frankly, sends the wrong signal to the Palestinians as well. It signals to them back to business as usual, back to the kleptocracy, and ‘pay to slay’ and all the horrors that the Palestinian leadership and the West Bank imposed on its own people as well” 

Biden’s decision will certainly give added impetus to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 – passed on 23 December 2016 as then Vice President Biden was vacating his office in the White House prior to the handover of power from President Obama to President-elect Trump.

Security Council Resolution 2334:

1. Reaffirmed that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity and constituted a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace; 

2. Reiterated its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard; 

3. Underlined that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations;

This racist resolution: 

• Ignored that all Jews living in East Jerusalem before 1948 had been ethnically cleansed from there following Jerusalem’s invasion and partial conquest by Transjordan in 1948.
• Denied Jews had any right to return or take up residence there after 1967
• Failed to acknowledge that Jews had lived there for 3000 years

The Obama-Biden administration failed to veto this overtly anti-Jewish Resolution to ensure it could never be weaponised to attack Israeli policies. 

The departing administration shamefully chose instead to only abstain — as then Secretary of State John Kerry — now currently serving as Biden’s United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate — explained:

“.. . the vote in the United Nations was about preserving the two-state solution.  That’s what we were standing up for: Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, living side by side in peace and security with its neighbors.  That’s what we are trying to preserve for our sake and for theirs.”

Preserving the two-state solution was more important for the Obama-Biden administration than denouncing the UN for denying Jews the right to live in East Jerusalem

President Trump’s closure of the US Consulate in Jerusalem helped neutralise this anti-Jewish parting shot fired by Obama and Biden.

Biden’s current Secretary of State – Antony Blinken – has announced that re-opening the US Consulate in Jerusalem will serve: 

“to underscore the commitment of the United States to rebuilding the relationship with the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people”

Why does rebuilding this relationship justify consular offices separate from the US Embassy in Jerusalem for those seeking to deny Jews the right to live in East Jerusalem alongside them? 

The US House of Representatives rejected Resolution 2334 by a vote of 342-80 on January 5, 2017. So should Biden – by keeping the former US Consulate doors in Jerusalem firmly and permanently closed.

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 and Pelosi silent on Jew-hatred in Democratic Party

 

The failure of President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to rebuke the ten Democratic Party members of the House of Representatives who abstained or voted against America providing $1 billion in aid to help Israel replenish its Iron Dome missile defence system is very concerning.

Iron Dome had become depleted after successfully being used during:

• May: to destroy over 90 percent of more than 4,000 rockets launched indiscriminately by Hamas from Gaza into civilian-occupied areas of Israel and
• August: to bring down 10 rockets similarly fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel

Following overwhelming approval of the funding by 420 votes to 9 - with 2 abstentions - House Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro declared:

“This bill demonstrates that Congress’ commitment to our friend and ally Israel is bipartisan and ironclad. It fulfills our moral imperative to protect the lives of innocent civilians and helps build the foundations for peace.”

That moral imperative was however sadly lacking in 9 Members’ decisions to not approve the funding:

• 1 Republican – Rep. Massie and
• 8 Democrats - Reps. Tlaib, Omar, Pressley, Bush, Carson, Newman, Garcia and Grijalva

Two further Democrats - Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Johnson – abstained. Ocasio-Cortez clarified in a subsequent statement that she also opposed the funding.

Grijalva occupies a leadership position as chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar and Pressley – dubbed the “Squad” – are part of a growing group of Democrats in Congress critical of Israel and its policies. Bush and Newman both defeated more moderate Democrats in primaries last year.

Tlaib’s opposition to granting Israel the Iron Dome funding reeked of Jew-hatred:

"We cannot be talking only about Israelis’ need for safety at a time when Palestinians are living under a violent apartheid system…”

The indiscriminate targeting of any civilian population – Israeli or otherwise - should be called out whenever or wherever it occurs. There simply is no justification whatsoever to condone or excuse such heinous conduct.

Pelosi had the opportunity to call out these 10 errant House Democrats during her Floor Speech after the funding was passed - but chose instead to gloss over this growing scandal within the Democratic Party:

“Passage of this bill reflects the great unity in Congress on a bipartisan and bicameral basis for Israel’s security.”

Strong admonition of these 10 Democrat House Members by Pelosi for voting as they did was certainly warranted.

Biden’s silence is breathtaking.

These 10 House Democrats had joined 15 more House Democrats in signing a letter in May calling on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to condemn the possible legal evictions of Arabs from four homes in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood – whose ownership was being claimed by Jews.

The other 15 Democrat signatories to that letter - Reps. Pocan, Jayapal, McCollum, Chu, Rush, Connolly, Huffman, Johnson, Welch, Lowenthal, Escobar, Speier, Eshoo, Pingree and Dingell – nevertheless voted to fund Israel’s Iron Dome system despite their concerns expressed to Blinken.

These 15 Democrats could distinguish between criticising Israel whilst voting to financially support Israel in defending its civilian population from being deliberately targeted by Hamas and Hezbollah.

Ocasio-Cortez declared:

“I hope we can take this moment and opportunity to more deeply engage in and grow a true, substantive movement of community support for human rights around the world - which includes cherishing and respecting the human rights of Palestinian people.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s first imperative in building this international movement should have seen her voting with her 15 colleagues to help protect Israel’s civilian population being threatened by rockets indiscriminately fired from Gaza and Lebanon.

Jew-hatred within the Democratic Party exposed by those 10 House Democrats’ votes needs to be rooted out before it becomes endemic.


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