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.