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

The 'State of Palestine' remains a United Nations mirage

 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber 1 decision that the ICC has jurisdiction to investigate alleged war crimes committed in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem has infuriated Israel — but should bring no joy to Hamas, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) or the United Nations which continues to support the PLO’s claim for the creation of a second Arab State in former Palestine — in addition to Jordan.

The ICC Prosecutor believes:

"there is a reasonable basis to believe that members of Hamas and Palestinian armed groups […] committed the war crimes of: intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects (articles 8(2)(b)(i)-(ii), or 8(2)(e)(i)); using protected persons as shields (article 8(2)(b)(xxiii)); wilfully depriving protected persons of the rights of fair and regular trial (articles 8(2)(a)(vi) or 8(2)(c)(iv)) and wilful killing (articles 8(2)(a)(i), or 8(2)(c)(i)); and torture or inhuman treatment (article 8(2)(a)(ii), or 8(2)(c)(i)) and/or outrages upon personal dignity (articles 8(2)(b)(xxi), or 8(2)(c)(ii))’ (para 94)

The Prosecutor further concluded in para 94 that these potential cases would be currently admissible for prosecution once jurisdiction was established.

The Court noted:

“The identification of potential cases by the Prosecutor and her evolving investigation, which is likely to be protracted and resource-intensive, entails that the question of jurisdiction under consideration has concrete ramifications for the further conduct of the proceedings. The initiation of an investigation by the Prosecutor also means that States Parties are under the obligation to cooperate with the Court pursuant to part 9 of the Statute. It is, therefore, all the more necessary to place the present proceedings on a sound jurisdictional footing as early as possible.”(para 86)

The PLO and Hamas will be kept very busy answering the ICC Prosecutor’s enquiries regarding those Palestinian war crimes identified in para 94.

The Court further emphasised that:

“the present decision is strictly limited to the question of jurisdiction set forth in the Prosecutor’s Request and does not entail any determination on the border disputes between Palestine and Israel. The present decision shall thus not be construed as determining, prejudicing, impacting on, or otherwise affecting any other legal matter arising from the events in the Situation in Palestine either under the Statute or any other field of international law.”(para 60)

Any expectation Israel will return to the negotiating table after the PLO’s flirtation with the ICC is hard to visualise.

The 163 page partly dissenting opinion of Judge Péter Kovács’ dwarfs the Court’s actual 60 page decision. It is complicated and breathtaking in its scope and incredible research.

In it Judge Kovács’ made the following observations: 

“To sum up, no conclusion can be drawn that the ‘Non-Member Observer State’ status in the United Nations should be construed in abstracto to mean that its holder is a sovereign State.” (para 219) 

“Palestine is a State Party 9 (under the ICC Statute—ed) despite its current and perhaps peculiar international legal situation. As a State in statu nascendi, Palestine may also perform its rights and obligations. However, this does not mean that its ‘statehood’ has been achieved, that the issue of its territory as ‘territory of the State’ has been settled, or that its ‘borders’ can be conceived as State boundaries.” (para 267)

“Although Mr. Mahmoud Abbas is the Head of State of a State Party, Palestine has not yet achieved a full-fledged and sovereign State status” (Para 303)

His Honour also listed the recent statements (below) of leading Palestinian personalities on the ‘State of Palestine’ as an ‘aim to achieve’ and not as an existing, sovereign and independent State.

The State of Palestine remains a United Nations mirage based on fiction—not fact.

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

Biden declares Trump two-state solution dead and buried

 

An apparent attempt by the outgoing US Ambassador to Israel — David Friedman — to preserve the two-state solution proposed in former President Trump’s Vision for Peace (Vision) — lasted about two hours— before being shredded in the garbage bin of history by the newly-elected President Biden.

This is the only conclusion one can reasonably draw after a second U.S. Ambassador to Israel page — in French — headed U.S. Ambassador to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza—was published on Twitter at about the same time as President Biden’s swearing in ceremony was beginning (See images following).

Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida blamed the new Biden administration for the Embassy’s second Twitter page:

“The Biden Admin title change for the @USAmbIsrael shows the Democrats’ hostility to Israel”

 Other comments similarly blamed the Biden administration.

These criticisms seem misplaced — given the timing of the second page’s appearance on Twitter.

The second page was not a forgery — as a spokesman for the American embassy told The Times of Israel:

“This is not a policy change or indication of future policy change.”

The spokesman was simultaneously confirming that Trump’s two-state solution was still America’s policy objective in the West Bank and Gaza:

• A Palestinian Arab State in Gaza and about 70% of the West Bank—plus an area currently within Israel’s sovereign borders and 
• Israeli sovereignty being extended in the remaining 30% of the West Bank

That Friedman — not the incoming Biden administration — authorised this second Embassy Twitter page — is further supported by the fact that Friedman posted his final Tweet — as Ambassador — on both Embassy pages:

“Signing off now, moving to @DavidM_Friedman. Thank you President Trump for the honor of a lifetime. Thank you @MikePence,@MikePompeo,@SteveMnuchin1,Jared Kushner,@AviBerkow45,@Robertcobrienand @LighstoneA…”

The Jewish Chronicle also reported:

“In a further comment, the US Embassy said: “It was an inadvertent edit, and not reflective of a policy change.”

An “inadvertent edit” it certainly was not.

Someone in the Embassy had created the second Embassy page — pre-Biden — and someone in the new 2 hours-old Biden administration had apparently directed the Embassy — after Friedman had left— to de-activate that page. Representing Trump’s two-state solution as American current policy going forward under the Biden administration had come to a crushing halt.

A Washington Post article in August 2020 summed up Biden and the Democrats position on Trump’s two-state solution:

“The Democrats, led by presidential candidate Joe Biden, are determined to change course should they come to power. There are open discussions within the caucus about conditioning the billions in aid given to Israel on the basis of its actions. Biden and virtually every Democrat in Congress were vocal in their opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s now-stalled plans to start annexing parts of the West Bank.”

Any attempt by Israel to extend its sovereignty unilaterally into any part of the West Bank — incorrectly termed “annexation” — will assuredly be opposed by President Biden.

Trump’s Vision acknowledged the historic and biblical right of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in the West Bank — recognized and legally authorized by the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine — and preserved under article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

A jointly-appointed US-Israel Mapping Committee — headed by Friedman — had failed — after 11 months — to produce a detailed subdivision of the West Bank embracing the conceptual two-state solution proposed by Trump — before Friedman’s retirement as Ambassador.

Closing the Embassy’s second Twitter page signals such a map will never be released under President Biden’s administration.

Biden has effectively declared Trump’s two-state solution dead and buried.


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

Trump’s indecision is sinking his own two-state solution

 

President Trump’s failure to release a detailed plan showing the specific borders of a Palestinian Arab State incorporating Gaza and about 70% of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) - before he leaves office at midday on January 20, 2021—will sink the only two-state solution that has any possibility of being implemented in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

President-elect Biden seems set to support the failed two-state solution propagated by the United Nations for the last 25 years — which is unacceptable to Israel.

When releasing his comprehensive plan “Peace to Prosperity — A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People” (“Peace Plan”) on January 28, 2020—Trump pointed out:

“For the first time in this conflict, President Trump has reached an understanding with Israel regarding a map setting forth borders for a two-state solution.

This Vision proposes a realistic two-state solution, offering a viable path to Palestinian statehood.

Israel has now agreed to terms for a future Palestinian State.”

Trump’s Peace Plan — unlike any other Presidential solution previously offered by his predecessors —was accompanied by the following conceptual plans showing his proposed two-state solution.

The final borders were to be determined in direct negotiations between Israel and the PLO.




At a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on January 28, 2020—Trump announced:

“We will form a joint committee with Israel to convert the conceptual map into a more detailed and calibrated rendering so that [Israeli] recognition can be immediately achieved.

We will also work to create a contiguous territory within the future Palestinian State for when the conditions for statehood are met, including the firm rejection of terrorism.”

Trump’s Peace Plan was rejected by PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on February 5, 2020:

“They told me Trump wants to send me the deal of the century to read, I said I would not,” Abbas told the meeting of Arab League foreign ministers.

“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.”

On February 9, 2020 - US Ambassador to Israel—David Friedman—affirmed:

“The process [preparing a detailed map—ed] will not last very long, but we want to go through a process… We’re going to go through a mapping process to convert a map which is drawn of more than a million to one into something which really shows on the ground how the territory will be put together.

It’s not unduly difficult, but it’s also not simple, because there are a lot of judgment calls. We don’t want to do this piecemeal …

We want to do it once, holistically, in totality, and get it done right. We just want to get it done right. That’s not too much to ask. And that was the president’s message when he spoke about it the first time.”

On February 15, 2020 - the three US members of a joint US-Israel committee to join Israel’s three nominees in translating Trump’s conceptual plans into two defined territorial entities were announced (Mapping Committee).

Eleven months later the Mapping Committee’s map remains under tight wraps. No reasons have been given for the Committee’s failure to publish.

Failing to release the Committee’s detailed map before January 20 will see Trump’s two-state solution sink into political oblivion — leaving no defined borders for future Israel-PLO negotiations — should they ever be resumed.

President Trump’s opportunity to finally end the 100 years-old unresolved Jewish-Arab conflict will then have become just a footnote in history — joining the failed attempts of his Presidential predecessors.


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

Trump pulls off another miracle in the Middle East

President Trump appears to have been instrumental in pulling off yet another miracle in the Middle East with the announcement that Saudi Arabia would be reopening its airspace and land and sea border with Qatar.

The announcement — which comes on the eve of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit on 5 January — is the catalyst that will see the resolution of a political dispute that led Saudi Arabia and its allies – Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Egypt — to impose a diplomatic, trade and travel boycott on Qatar in June 2017.

Qatar was then accused of having ties with Iran that were deemed too close.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will attend the GCC summit – having received a formal invitation from Saudi King Salman to the six-nation summit.

The Saudi News Agency has reported Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stating: 

 “that the upcoming GCC summit shall be a summit to close the ranks and unify the stance and to enhance the march of the good and prosperity, adding that we will translate through the summit,”

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner had visited Saudi Arabia and Qatar last November in an attempt to secure such a reconciliation agreement.

One week earlier—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reported to have secretly met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi Arabia denied the meeting took place — but Israel didn’t.

Mr. Netanyahu’s meeting with Mohammed bin Salman – reportedly in the seaside corner of northwest Saudi Arabia — coincided with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit. Yossi Cohen—the director of Israel’s spy agency Mossad — reportedly accompanied Netanyahu.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud had hinted a rapprochement with Qatar was very near when he told the MED 2020 Rome forum on 4 December 2020:

“We’ve made significant progress in the last few days, thanks to the continuing efforts of Kuwait but also thanks to strong support from President Trump and US administration towards bringing all parties closer”

The significance of such a looming reconciliation was summed up by al Khalej Today:

“an extraordinary Saudi movement has emerged in the direction of promoting the achievement of a reconciliation that has become within reach, as the Kingdom’s Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Farhan, has already mentioned. A reconciliation in which Riyadh is happy, as it believes, as well as its ally Washington, that the Gulf reunification will constitute, if Israel is annexed to it, a united front in the face of Iran, which will stand as an impregnable barrier to any step that contradicts the policy of “maximum pressure”.

GCC Secretary General Nayef Mubarak Al Hajraf has welcomed the reopening of airspace and land and sea borders between Qatar and Saudi Arabia:

“The step, which comes ahead of the 41st GCC summit in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, reflects the great interest and sincere efforts being made to ensure the success of the summit, which is held in light of extraordinary circumstances,”

 Kushner will reportedly be attending the signing ceremony to end the blockade of Qatar.

Anwar Gargash — UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs — describing the upcoming summit as “historic” – stated:

“We stand before a historic summit in Al-Ula, through which we restore our Gulf cohesion and ensure that security, stability and prosperity is our top priority. We have more work ahead and we are moving in the right direction,”

Could these developments herald more Arab states soon joining Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco in recognizing Israel?

President Trump keeps continuing to pull more rabbits out of the hat.

Morocco backing Trump Peace Plan can help end Arab-Jewish conflict

 [Published 29 December 2020]

Morocco’s Prime Minister, Saad-Eddine El Othmani, has cast a shadow over Morocco’s newly emerging diplomatic ties with Israel as his Government rejects President Trump’s peace plan providing for a demilitarized Palestinian Arab state in Gaza and 70% of Judea and Samaria (Peace Plan).

Following the White House announcement on December 11th that Trump had brokered an agreement between Israel and Morocco to make peace, normalize their relations, and resume full diplomatic relations—Othmani said that King Mohammed VI had phoned PLO President Mahmoud Abbas:

“to tell him that His Majesty’s position in support of the Palestinian cause remains unshakeable, and that Morocco places it at the same level of Sahara issue”

The Sahara issue Othmani referred to was the historic Proclamation signed by Trump on December 4, 2020:

“I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim that, the United States recognizes that the entire Western Sahara territory is part of the Kingdom of Morocco.”

In justifying his Proclamation — Trump stated:

“The United States affirms, as stated by previous Administrations, its support for Morocco’s autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute over the Western Sahara territory. Therefore, as of today, the United States recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara territory and reaffirms its support for Morocco’s serious, credible, and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute over the Western Sahara territory. The United States believes that an independent Sahrawi State is not a realistic option for resolving the conflict and that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only feasible solution”

Othmani - who heads the conservative Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) — after revealing the King’s phone call to Abbas — then lashed out at Trump’s Peace Plan, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his recognition that Israel had legal rights to claim sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights:

“We also adopt this principle [in the government], with our constant emphasis on rejecting the Deal of the Century, and all violations of the Israeli occupation authorities, especially the recent attempts to Judaize Jerusalem,”

Supporting Trump’s two-state-solution as espoused in Trump’s Peace Plan is not inconsistent with supporting the “Palestinian cause”.

Othmani is no supporter of the Morocco-Israel peace deal as he made clear in August:

“We refuse any normalisation with the Zionist entity because this emboldens it to go further in breaching the rights of the Palestinian people.”

Othmani was clearly over-ruled by the King — as the pace of peace between Israel and Morocco quickens.

A three-person delegation landed in Israel this past Sunday to handle logistics ahead of reopening the Moroccan liaison office in Tel Aviv - which it has maintained for the past 20 years since Morocco cut official ties.

Israel had also retained its closed office in Morocco.

Last week White House Special Adviser Jared Kushner led an Israeli-US delegation to Morocco when both countries committed to reopening these offices within two weeks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to visit Israel —reportedly telling him — quoting from the film Casablanca.

“This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,”

It certainly will be if the King:

• endorses Trump’s Peace Plan,
• calls on Abbas to begin negotiations with Israel on Trump’s plan and
• disassociates himself unreservedly from Othmani’s inflammatory anti-Israel views

Trump’s Peace Plan — with Morocco’s backing — can help end the 100 years-old unresolved 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. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog