Israel & Jordan need to negotiate on Trump 2020 Peace Plan

It is regrettable that Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Jordan’s King Abdullah did not discuss the possibility of Jordan-Israel negotiations on former US President Donald Trump’s 2020 Peace Plan for allocating sovereignty in Judea/Samaria (West Bank), Gaza and parts of Israel (Trump’s Plan) - when they met in Amman on January 5th.

Gantz enthusiastically supported Trump’s Plan (see image below) following its release on January 28 2020:

“The Trump administration’s peace plan is a significant and historic milestone indeed. Immediately after the elections, I will work toward implementing it from within a stable, functioning Israeli government, in tandem with the other countries in our region.”

Israel now has a stable functioning Government – so Gantz’s failure to raise Trump’s Plan with Abdullah when sitting face to face with the King runs counter to Israel’s national interest. 

This is especially so given Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s outright rejection of Trump’s Plan – reportedly telling an Arab League foreign ministers meeting on 1 February 2020: 

“They told me Trump wants to send me the deal of the century to read, I said I would not. 

Trump asked that I speak to him over the phone, so I said ‘no’, and that he wants to send me a letter, so I refused to receive it.”

Holding up a map that shows the gradual geographic reduction of Palestine through four stages from pre-1948 to Trump’s Middle East plan, Abbas said: “I challenge any of you, if you can even see us on the map. If you ask a child in first grade to draw Trump’s map he will never know how to.”

“This is a disgrace,” 

The map Abbas brandished (pictured below) was a phony map of “Historic Palestine” – dating from 1947 - not 1920.

Article 2 of the PLO Charter recognizes that Palestine between 1920 and 1946 included what is today called Jordan - 78% of the territory of Palestine under the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine:

“Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit.”

Jordan was granted independence by Great Britain in 1946 - terminating its Mandate in the remaining 22% of Palestine in 1948. 

The PLO never claimed sovereignty in Judea/Samaria (West Bank) or Gaza on its establishment in 1964 – article 24 of its founding Charter declaring:

This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields.

Jordan occupied Judea/Samaria between 1948 and 1967.

Jordan’s history certainly qualifies it to replace the PLO as Israel’s negotiating partner to implement Trump’s Plan.

Abdullah stressed to Gantz the: 

“importance of maintaining calm in the Palestinian Territories and taking all measures to create the horizon needed to achieve just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution”

Jordan - stepping into the negotiating void created by Abbas’s continuing rejection of Trump’s Plan – would become a major driver in maintaining that calm. 

Israel-Jordan negotiations to redraw their currently-agreed existing international border - using Trump’s Plan - could result in the following two-state solution first contemplated by the 1922 Mandate for Palestine: 

1. Israel acquiring sovereignty in about 30% of Judea/Samaria (West Bank) 
2. Jordan acquiring sovereignty in about 70% of Judea/Samaria (West Bank), all of Gaza and parts of Israel’s existing sovereign territory.
3. No Arab or Jewish residents being forced to move from their current homes or business locations.

Trump’s Plan has now become the definitive blueprint for resolving the 100-years old Arab-Jewish conflict in former Palestine. 

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.

Abdullah-Biden meeting will not help resolve Jewish-Arab conflict

 

The meeting between Jordan’s King Abdullah and President Biden at the White House on 19 July seems set to achieve absolutely nothing towards resolving the 100 years-old conflict between Jews and Arabs.

Biden’s Press Secretary — Jen Psaki – has claimed:

“It will be an opportunity to discuss the many challenges facing the Middle East and showcase Jordan’s leadership role in promoting peace and stability in the region.”

The King has shown no leadership in resolving the conflict between Jews and Arabs over sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) [“Disputed Territory”] and Gaza – comprising the remaining 5% of the territory of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine where sovereignty still remains unallocated (“Unallocated Territories”).

Sovereignty in the remaining 95% of the Mandate territory was divided between:

• Jordan—78% – upon the establishment of the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan in 1946
• Israel—17% – upon its establishment in 1948.

Concerted attempts over the last 25 years to create an additional Arab State in the Unallocated Territories for the first time in recorded history (“two-state solution”) have all failed. Abdullah has been a principal protagonist for this solution.

Jordan’s failure to take a leadership role in agreeing to an alternative solution — division of the Unallocated Territories between Jordan and Israel within the framework of their existing 1994 Peace Treaty – has gone begging during Abdullah’s 22 year reign.

The following historic, geographic and demographic realities bind Jordan with the Disputed Territory:

• Transjordan in 1948 conquered and occupied the Disputed Territory until 1967 – renaming the newly-merged territorial entity “Jordan” in 1950.
• The Arab residents of the Disputed Territory were Jordanian citizens between 1950 and 1988 and elected their own representatives to the Jordanian Parliament in Amman.
• Statements made by Arab leaders over decades have attested to the territorial and population ties between Jordan and the Disputed Territory

“Jordan and Palestine until 1945 were one state, actually. After the Second World War Churchill himself said ‘This is Transjordan and this is Palestine’. Before that, Jordan was an emirate, completely part of Palestine.” – Yasser Arafat New York Review of Books 25 June 1987

“Jordanians and Palestinians are indeed one people. No one can divide us. We have the same fate.”—Yasser Arafat Der Spiegel 1986

“The Jordanians and Palestinians are now one people, and no political loyalty, however strong, will separate them permanently… Small as Jordan is, our country is politically, socially, economically, militarily and historically inseparable from the Palestinian issue” - Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan Foreign Affairs Spring 1982

“Palestine and Jordan were both under British Mandate, but as my grandfather pointed out in his memoirs, they were hardly separate countries. Trans-Jordan, being to the east of the River Jordan, it formed in a sense, the interior of Palestine” – King Hussein of Jordan Uneasy Lies the Head, New York 1962 p. 118

“This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area” – Article 24 Palestine Liberation Organisation Charter 1964

Jewish settlement — prohibited under article 25 of the 1922 Mandate document in what is today’s Jordan – was encouraged under article 6 in the Disputed Territory on State land and waste land not required for public purposes. That right is preserved until today under Article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

Jordan’s return to such part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) as is agreed with Israel in direct negotiations remains the key to ending the Jewish-Arab conflict.

Jordan — part of the problem — must be part of the solution.

Abdullah will continue to hide behind the two-state solution in his meeting with Biden.

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.

Action - not platitudes - required from Jordan’s King Abdullah

 

Jordan’s King Abdullah continues to engage in platitudes - rather than concrete action - as he pontificates but does nothing to help resolve the 100 years-old Arab-Jewish conflict.

Jordan — called Transjordan between 1922 and 1949:

• Comprises 78% of the territory of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine
• Is the key to resolving the long-running conflict.

Abdullah recently repeated one of his favourite mantras - insisting that peace should be:

“based on the two-state solution that guarantees the establishment of an independent, sovereign, and viable Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living in peace and security alongside Israel, in accordance with international law, recognized terms of reference, and the Arab Peace Initiative.”

This solution could have been implemented at any time between 1948 and 1967 after Transjordan had conquered and occupied East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria (renamed the West Bank in 1950):

• Driving out all the Jews living there and refusing to allow their return and
• Unifying those territories with Transjordan into a single territorial entity - renamed “Jordan”.

That 19 years window of opportunity was squandered after Jordan lost those territories to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. That opportunity is not going to return — no matter how many times Abdullah continues to repeat it as the solution.

Abdullah also asserts:

“The Palestinian cause is central to Jordan, and we continue to stand alongside our Palestinian brethren with all our power and capabilities as they seek to gain their just and legitimate rights. We are constantly communicating and coordinating with them in this regard”

Talk is cheap — action is necessary.

Abdullah could with the stroke of a pen — preferably with Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) approval - restore Jordanian citizenship to his “Palestinian brethren” living in the West Bank — a status they enjoyed from 1950 until Jordan revoked their citizenship on July 28, 1988 under article 2 of the Jordan: Disengagement Regulations for the Year 1988:

“Every person residing in the West Bank before the date of 31/7/1988 will be considered as Palestinian citizen and not as Jordanian.”

Restoring Jordanian citizenship to West Bank Arabs opens the way to a far more realistic and attainable solution than creating another Arab State between Jordan and Israel: The territorial subdivision of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine.

This solution would accord with the policy of the PLO enunciated in its founding 1964 Charter:

“Article 24. This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields.”

The present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem under Article 2 (3) of the 1994 Washington Declaration signed between Israel, Jordan and the United States would become permanent.

Distinguishing between Arabs living in the West Bank and Arabs living in Jordan is an artificial construct that has no basis in history, geography or demography. They are one and the same people—not two separate nations.

Abdullah should stop sermonizing, roll up his sleeves and continue the work of Arab-Jewish reconciliation which has now seen Peace Treaties or diplomatic engagements between Israel and:

• Egypt
• Jordan
• United Arab Emirates
• Bahrain
• Morocco
• Sudan

Compromise between Israel and Jordan on the future sovereignty of the West Bank is the achievable way forward. The finishing line could be coming into sight if King Abdullah keep his eyes — and mind— open to this solution.


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

Jordan and Israel now the only viable two-state solution

 

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has unequivocally confirmed its rejection of an independent demilitarised State proposed by President Trump in:

• Gaza
• About 70% of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and
• Parts of Israel’s sovereign territory

PLO representative - Riad Malki - told the Security Council on January 26, 2021

“It is our collective responsibility to salvage the two-State solution on the pre-1967 borders before it is too late.”

Malki was blatantly lying to the Security Council.

There were no “pre-1967 borders” - only “1949 Armistice lines” - the Armistice Demarcation Lines negotiated after the 1948 attack on the newly declared State of Israel by Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon— as designated in agreements between:

• The Government of Egypt and the Government of Israel dated February 24, 1949
• The Government of the Hashemite Jordan Kingdom and the Government of Israel dated April 3,1949—(Armistice Agreements

Article VI (9) of the Jordan/Israel Armistice Agreement provided:

“The Armistice Demarcation Lines defined in articles V and VI of this Agreement are agreed upon by the Parties without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines or to claims of either Party relating thereto.”

Article V (2) of the Egypt/Israel Armistice Agreement provided:

“The Armistice Demarcation Line is not to be construed in any sense as a political or territorial boundary, and is delineated without prejudice to rights, claims and positions of either Party to the Armistice as regards ultimate settlement of the Palestine question.

Armistice Demarcation Lines are not borders.

That the UN Security Council accepted the repetition of this drivel by Malki – without seeking its correction - is indicative of the Security Council’s continuing bias against the Jewish people.

Furthermore the PLO was only created in 1964 – when article 24 of its founding Charter declared:

“This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip ... Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields.”

This wording was dropped when the PLO Charter was revised in 1968 – after Jordan had lost Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and East Jerusalem and Egypt had lost Gaza – territories they were both respectively occupying under the Armistice Agreements prior to their entering the 1967 Six Day War.

The revised article 24 read:

“The Palestinian people believe in the principles of justice, freedom, sovereignty, self-determination, human dignity, and in the right of all peoples to exercise them.”

Sovereignty in the territories covered by the Armistice Agreements was amazingly being claimed by the PLO – when it was not in 1964.

Malki’s plea to the Security Council further falsified the historical and geographical facts:

“Israel’s goal has always been the same: grabbing maximum Palestinian geography with minimum Palestinian demography."

It was Jewish geography not Palestinian geography – recognition having been given by the League of Nations in 1922 to the right of the Jewish People to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza – their ancient and biblical homeland - pursuant to Article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine – a right preserved until today by article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

The PLO and the United Nations “two-state solution” has reached a dead end.

The only viable two-state solution to ending Jewish and Arab claims in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza are direct negotiations between Israel and Jordan – the two successor States to the 1922 Mandate for Palestine and the two signatories to their 1949 Armistice Agreement.

A two-state solution based on fiction can never beat a two-state solution based on fact.


Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively by the author —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.com

PLO repudiates Trump Plan: Opens door for Jordan and Egypt

 [Published 30 September 2020]

PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has publicly repudiated the Trump Peace Plan telling the United Nations (UN) in his annual address:

“The Palestinian people have placed their hope in the United Nations, the historical witness of their Nakba, to provide support to their legitimate struggle for freedom and independence. And we continue to await the UN to fulfill its responsibility to achieve a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine in accordance with its resolutions.”

The PLO will have a long wait — as Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu told the UN in his annual address:

“I will be ready and I’d be willing to negotiate on the basis of the Trump plan to end our conflict with the Palestinians once and for all.”

In justifying the PLO‘s decision to jettison the Trump Plan — Abbas stated:

“The declaration we are adopting today reflects the belief of the State of Palestine that upholding international law is the guarantee for achieving justice, that the UN Charter remains the basis for a more just, peaceful and prosperous world and that international law is imprescriptible and its respect more pressing.”

The PLO long ago consigned itself to irrelevancy when it became the arbiter of what international law it was prepared to accept or fabricate and which to simply ignore — as exemplified by:

1. The “State of Palestine” not being a state under article 1 of the Montevideo Convention. 

2. The PLO refusing to accept two foundational pillars of international law under article 18 of its 1964 Charter:

“The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate system and all that has been based upon them are considered fraud.”

3. Article 20 in the revised 1968 Charter seeing the PLO going even further:

“The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void.”

 Abbas then declared to the UN:

”[Our people] will achieve their rightful and natural place among nations, living in freedom, dignity and security, in their sovereign and independent State, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the 1967 borders.”

This will never happen — Netanyahu telling the UN:

“For decades, all progress was halted and was held hostage to completely unrealistic Palestinian demands, such as the demand that Israel withdraw to the indefensible lines of 1967 and place its security in the hands of others; or the demand that Israel expel tens of thousands of Jews from their homes, effectively committing ethnic cleansing; or the demand that Israel absorb millions of Palestinians who are descendants of refugees from a war that was launched by the Palestinians against Israel more than half a century ago.
Of course, these demands, along with many others, are complete non-starters for any responsible Israeli government.… 

… Thankfully, President Trump chose a different path to peace—a path anchored in reality."

That Trump path has been rejected by the PLO – but another path can replace it: direct negotiations between Israel, Jordan and Egypt to allocate sovereignty in Gaza and up to 70% of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) not designated for Jewish sovereignty in Trump’s peace plan.

In 1964:

1. Egypt administered Gaza  

2. the West Bank was part of Jordan and its residents were Jordanian citizens 

3. Article 24 of the PLO Charter declared 

“This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area”

Negotiations between Israel, Jordan and Egypt based on these 1964 realities should now be Trump’s focus — the key to seeing Trump’s deal of the century becoming a reality and ending the 100 years old Jewish-Arab 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. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

PLO opens door to Jordan returning to Judea and Samaria

[Published 25 May 2020]

Advancing an end to the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict has become a miraculous possibility since the formation of an Israeli Government of National Unity just 7 days ago.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately gave the lie to mounting international opposition claiming that Israel’s intention to restore Jewish sovereignty in 30% of Judea and Samaria amounted to “West Bank annexation”:

“It’s time to apply the Israeli law and write another glorious chapter in the history of Zionism. These territories are where the Jewish nation was born and grew. This will not distance us from peace, it will bring us closer.”

The Jewish People’s right to reconstitute its ancient Jewish National Home in Judea and Samaria — the biblical heartland of the Jewish People - after 3000 years — had been recognized by the international community in:

1920: The San Remo Resolution and the Treaty of Sevres

1922 : The League of Nations Mandate for Palestine

1945 : Article 80 United Nations Charter

Attempts by that international community to deny such vested legal rights in the Jewish People over the past 53 years had exacerbated the long-running conflict — contributing materially to it failing to be resolved. Netanyahu had no compunction in calling out and exposing the continuing travesty of justice that these current protestations represented.

However the roadblock jamming any progress in resolving the conflict was suddenly cleared when days later PLO President Mahmoud Abbas announced:

“The Israeli occupation authority, as of today, has to shoulder all responsibilities and obligations in front of the international community as an occupying power over the territory of the occupied state of Palestine, with all its consequences and repercussions based on international law and international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which holds the occupying power responsible for the protection of the civilian population under occupation and their property, criminalizes collective punishment, bans theft of resources, appropriation and annexation of land, bans forced transfer of the population of the occupied territory and bans transfer of the population of the occupying state (the colonialists) to the land it occupies, which all are grave violations and war crimes,”

Stripped of the lies and false and deceptive claims contained in this statement that have formed part and parcel of the PLO’s propaganda arsenal since its formation in 1964 — Abbas’s message was clear: Abbas was now turning over responsibility for Judea and Samaria to Israel.

The PLO had never claimed “regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan” or “on the Gaza Strip” as article 24 of its founding 1964 Charter declared. Its activities were to be “on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields”

This PLO position only changed in 1968 after Jordan — having occupied Judea and Samaria between 1950 and 1967 driving out every Jew living there — lost that territory to Israel in the Six Day War. Gaining sovereignty in 100% of Judea and Samaria by the creation of another Arab State became the focus of the PLO from 1968.

President Trump’s peace plan offering the PLO possibly 70% of Judea and Samaria plus Gaza has been rejected by the PLO.

Abbas — in turning over responsibility for Judea and Samaria to Israel — has opened the door to Jordan replacing the PLO as Israel’s negotiating partner.

Successful negotiations between Jordan and Israel could see Jordan annexing part of Judea and Samaria, Jordanian citizenship being restored for the Arab residents as existed between 1954 and 1988 and a possible end to the Jewish-Arab conflict.

King Abdullah — expect a call from President Trump.

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

Palestine: Netanyahu needs to expose PLO hoax

[Published 21 February 2017]


The first visit to Australia by a sitting Israeli Prime Minister – Benjamin Netanyahu – has been preceded by a statement signed by 65 prominent Australians on the initiative of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.

That statement declares:

“The Australian Government needs to rethink its one-sided support for the Israeli Government. We are appalled that our Government opposes the recent UN Security Council resolution supporting the application of international law to Israel and Palestine, when most nations, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and New Zealand, support it. Even the USA did not oppose it. It is time for the suffering of the Palestinian people to stop and for Australia to take a more balanced role in supporting the application of international law and not supporting Mr Netanyahu and his policies.”

Signatories to this statement include:

1. senior legal professionals – including former Solicitor General Gavan Griffith QC, and former Federal Court judge Murray Rutledge Wilcox
2. former parliamentarians –and diplomats including Jon Stanhope, former ACT Chief Minister, former ALP Minister The Hon Alan Griffin, and Ambassador Bruce Haigh
3. senior clergy – including Bishop George Browning, Bishop Pat Power and former Uniting Church President Rev Gregor Henderson AM
4. Artists – including actor Miriam Margolyes, writer and commentator Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, artist Luke Roberts, and filmmaker Christina Wilcox
5. Academics – including Dr Susan Carland, Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees AM and Associate Professor Peter Slezak, and many others

Their signatures are a sad testament to their embrace of Security Council Resolution 2334 and to its claim that the Jewish Quarter, the Kotel and the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and the Machpelah in Hebron are “Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

If they did not understand that is what they were endorsing then they should withdraw their signatures immediately.

Interestingly they also signed up to “supporting the application of international law to Israel and Palestine”

International law indisputably establishes:

1. The right of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in Jerusalem, Hebron and Judea and Samaria (West Bank) pursuant to the provisions of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine
2. The preservation of such vested legal rights under article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) – Israel’s “partner for peace” has:

1. declared this established international law to be “deemed null and void” under its Charter
2. claimed in its 1964 Charter:

“Article 24. This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields.”

This article remained unamended when UN Security Council Resolution 242 was passed after the Six Day War. Article 24 was removed from the Charter in 1968 but no claim to sovereignty replaced it.

The PLO claim in 2017 to a separate State where sovereignty still remains unclaimed under its own Charter has been one of the greatest scams perpetrated on and swallowed by the international community during the 100 years conflict.

That persons of the quality and calibre of these 65 prominent Australians should have signed this declaration is testament to the stunning inroads that false Arab propaganda has been used to influence public opinion over the last fifty years.

The idea of two Arab states in the area covered by the Mandate for Palestine has been offered to – and rejected by - the Arabs on many occasions since 1922.

Prime Minister Netanyahu should take the opportunity to say a few words on this PLO hoax during his visit to Australia.