Jordan jumps on Trump bandwagon leaving PLO way behind

[Published 18 October 2018]

Any lingering thought that the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) would have any role to play in President Trump’s soon to-be-released peace plan has vanished - after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that $165 million had been deducted from funding to the PLO because of its continuing “pay for slay” policy in breach of the Taylor Force Act.

Jordan has now signalled its preparedness to replace the PLO by publicly supporting Trump in an article written in the Jordan Times by Walid Sadi — a retired Jordanian diplomat with over 35 years’ experience and himself a former editor of the Jordan Times.

Sadi’s CV is impressive — having headed the Jordanian Delegation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) Conference in Rome and been the Chairperson of the ICC’s Working Group on Crimes against Humanity. He also represented the Jordanian government in Washington, Moscow, Ankara and London.

The Jordan Times is published by the Jordan Press Foundation — in which the government-owned Social Security Investment Fund has a majority stake. Sadi’s endorsement of Trump could only have been published with the knowledge and approval of Jordan’s King Abdullah.

Sadi makes no bones in airing his reasons for Trump’s success on the world stage:

“World leaders fear him because they know he is capable of anything and his finger is so close to nuclear weapons capable of blowing hostile capitals to smithereens with no qualms or hesitations. And above all, he seems to get away with anything as if he is immune to any mischief from within or outside his country.”

Sadi frankly acknowledges:

“No matter what Trump’s opponents or enemies throw at him, populist support for him remains solid and unwavering. It was the populist wave that brought Trump to power and this wave remains as strong as ever. It is almost a love or hate narrative when it comes to Trump and he is riding high on the love tsunami that won him the election in the first place.”

Given these fundamentals in the Trump persona — Jordan would be foolhardy indeed to reject Trump’s invitation to enter into direct negotiations with Israel to resolve the allocation of sovereignty in the West Bank — which the Trump-hating PLO has unequivocally rejected with devastating consequences.

Jordan currently exercises:

1. Sovereignty in 78% of the territory comprised in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine

2. Custodianship over the Muslim Holy Shrines in Jerusalem under the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty.

Jordan also:

(i) Renamed “Judea and Samaria” the “West Bank” - after Transjordan and Judea and Samaria had been unified into one territorial entity in 1950 and named “Jordan”

(ii) Granted Jordanian citizenship to the West Bank Arab population from 1950 until it ceded legal and administrative control to the PLO in 1988.

(iii) Conferred citizenship on 70% of Jordan’s population hailing from the remaining 22% of former Palestine

Sadi argued for Jordan’s inclusion in Trump’s plan in an earlier Jordan Times article dated 12 August:

”... the unity of the West Bank with the East Bank was officially and constitutionally adopted on 24 of April 1950. No one disputes this fact. The Constitution of the country at the time was the 1952 Constitution, which stipulated in no uncertain terms that no part of the Kingdom shall be ceded, period. This provision makes the 1988 decision to cut off all legal and administrative relations between the two banks stopping short of ceding the West Bank to any side whatsoever. Any other interpretation of the 1988 political decision is absolutely untenable constitutionally.”

The Trump bandwagon is swinging into top gear — with Jordan in the box seat and the PLO left flailing way behind.

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. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

Trump anoints Jordan to replace PLO in negotiations with Israel

[Published 22 August 2018]

The three day visit to Israel this week by President Trump’s National Security Advisor — John Bolton — indicates Jordan will replace the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in concluding negotiations with Israel to resolve territorial sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), East Jerusalem and Gaza (“the disputed territories”) under Trump’s peace plan.

Bolton’s visit follows a former Jordanian ambassador - Walid Sadi - last week signalling Jordan is ready to fill the diplomatic void following the breakdown of Israel-PLO negotiations unsuccessfully conducted during the last 25 years. The PLO refuses to negotiate on Trump’s plan.

Walid resurrected Jordan’s long-dormant claims to sovereignty in the disputed territories that completely undermine those of the PLO:

“First of all, the unity of the West Bank with the East Bank was officially and constitutionally adopted on 24 of April 1950. No one disputes this fact. The Constitution of the country at the time was the 1952 Constitution, which stipulated in no uncertain terms that no part of the Kingdom shall be ceded, period. This provision makes the 1988 decision to cut off all legal and administrative relations between the two banks stopping short of ceding the West Bank to any side whatsoever. Any other interpretation of the 1988 political decision is absolutely untenable constitutionally.”

Bolton himself has supported Israel-Jordan negotiations over the West Bank since 2009.

Bolton told Eric Shawn on 21 January 2018:

“I hope at some point the Administration recognizes and perhaps it is already quietly — that the two-state solution isn’t going anywhere. If anything I would say to King Abdullah of Jordan — “Be prepared to reassert Jordanian sovereignty over part of the West Bank — negotiate with Israel”. I think that’s a far better outcome than the continued pursuit of a mythical — I believe — unattainable viable Palestinian state”

George Will — an outspoken critic of President Trump - has claimed:

“Bolton will soon be the second-most dangerous American.”

Yet Will himself had written in the Washington Post on 17 April 1987:

“May 14 will be the 30th Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, June 6 will be the 20th anniversary of the Six Day War. The West Bank has been held by Israel longer than it had been held by Jordan, the 1967 aggressor, which ever since has presented itself as the aggrieved party. Today, as every day since 1948, the key to peace is direct negotiations between Jordan and Israel, not a committee”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been seeking direct negotiations with Jordan for decades — telling the United Nations General Assembly on 11 December 1984:

“Clearly, in Eastern and Western Palestine, there are only two peoples, the Arabs and the Jews. Just as clearly, there are only two states in that area, Jordan and Israel. The Arab State of Jordan, containing some three million Arabs, does not allow a single Jew to live there. It also contains 4/5 of the territory originally allocated by this body’s predecessor, the League of Nations, for the Jewish National Home. The other State, Israel, has a population of over four million, of which one sixth is Arab. It contains less than 1/5 of the territory originally allocated to the Jews under the Mandate…. It cannot be said, therefore, that the Arabs of Palestine are lacking a state of their own. The demand for a second Palestinian Arab State in Western Palestine, and a 22nd Arab State in the world, is merely the latest attempt to push Israel back into the hopelessly vulnerable armistice lines of 1949.”

Two peoples — the Arabs and the Jews - need two states — not three - in former Palestine.

Jordan - Israel negotiations on Trump peace plan set to bypass PLO

[Published 14 August 2018]

Jordan-Israel negotiations based on President Trump’s long-awaited peace plan seem increasingly likely to happen - following retired Jordanian Ambassador and former editor of the Jordan Times – Walid Sadi – flagging Jordan’s legal and sovereignty claims in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and East Jerusalem (“disputed territories”).

Sadi - in an op-ed article in the Jordan Times on 12 August - has forcefully argued that Jordan’s decision to cut off all legal and administrative relations with the disputed territories in July 1988 did not amount to Jordan ceding its claims to sovereignty for the following reasons:

“First of all, the unity of the West Bank with the East Bank was officially and constitutionally adopted on 24 of April 1950. No one disputes this fact. The Constitution of the country at the time was the 1952 Constitution, which stipulated in no uncertain terms that no part of the Kingdom shall be ceded, period. This provision makes the 1988 decision to cut off all legal and administrative relations between the two banks stopping short of ceding the West Bank to any side whatsoever. Any other interpretation of the 1988 political decision is absolutely untenable constitutionally.”

The Jordan Times is published by the Jordan Press Foundation – in which the government-owned Social Security Investment Fund has a majority stake. Wadi’s politically-charged and highly-significant article could only have been published with the knowledge and approval of Jordan’s King Abdullah.

Jordan’s claims are far superior to those of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) – Jordan being the last Arab state to occupy and claim sovereignty (albeit illegally) in the disputed territories from 1948 until their loss to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.

Indeed the 1964 PLO Charter made no claim to sovereignty in the disputed territories – completely negating any claimed ancient and long-standing rights accruing to their Arab populations which would outweigh the claims by Jordan to these areas - where sovereignty still remains undetermined between Arabs and Jews.

Jordan’s pivotal role in bringing Trump’s peace proposals to a successful conclusion are grounded in the following salient facts:

1. West Bank and East Jerusalem Arabs voted to unify these areas with Transjordan in 1950 and rename the unified entity - “Jordan”

2. West Bank Arabs were citizens of Jordan possessing Jordanian passports between 1950 and 1988.

3. Half the members of the Jordanian Parliament were elected from the West Bank Arab population between 1950 and 1967.

4. Jordan’s population is overwhelmingly comprised of Arabs born east or west of the Jordan River.

5. Jordan itself comprises 78% of the territory of former Palestine

6. Jordan and Israel are the two successor states to the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine already exercising between them mutually-agreed sovereignty in 95% of former Palestine

7. Jordanian custodianship of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem is guaranteed under the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty.

Reunifying into one territorial unit the East Bank with areas of the West Bank allocated to Jordan only requires Israel and Jordan to redraw their already existing internationally-recognised border.

Israeli and Jordanian negotiators – armed only with pencils, sharpeners and erasers - can achieve this new dividing line between their respective states within a relatively short time.

The PLO has made it clear it wants no part in negotiating Trump’s proposals. It – and Hamas - will be left to cool their heels and contemplate the many squandered opportunities to create an additional state between Israel and Jordan since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.

Jordan’s decision to resurrect its long-dormant claims after 30 years of studied silence and subservience to PLO posturing should be welcomed by all who want to see the Jewish-Arab conflict ended.