The “Jordon is Palestine” conference – A review by a born skeptic

By Mordechai Ben-Menachem

This short article is to ‘report’ on this conference, which I attended,  from the stand-point of an objective observer, who arrived at the conference highly skeptical, I am still to be convinced as to the idea’s practical implementation, but found the conference well-organised and the basic idea quite sound – though somewhat thin on practicality. [Like Trump we keep our plans close to our vest.]

Basically, the conference was quite good.  As one could expect from Ted, it was reasonably well-organised.  Most speakers knew well what they were talking about and expressed themselves well.
So much for the conference technical aspects!

The conference had two types of speakers, those who spoke about the concept of “Jordon is Palestine” and those who spoke about the present government of Jordon.  The majority were of the former type (and that was well thought of).

The idea of JiP was originated by Abdulla I who started the “Kingdom of Jordon.”– Jordon is a colonial-pseudo-kingdom created by the British to placate Abdullah and Feisal (the later via Iraq) after they overthrew them and their family from Hejaz (western Arabia) and the Sherriff of Mecca, with the forming of “Saudi” Arabia by Ibn Saud.

Abdulla specifically stated, and this was after, but not linked with, his brother’s (Feisal) agreement with Weizman, that his purpose was a homeland for all Palestinians.  He actually received money from the United Nations General Assembly (in 1951) specifically for the purpose of settling displaced Palestinians.  Additionally, this was the specific reason why he was murdered, on the Temple Mount, by al Husseini’s thugs.

Thus, the idea of Jordon is Palestine is neither “new” nor original, but it has been blocked for 70 years for internal Arab reasons.

No real specifics were discussed as to plans, other than their proposed future attitude towards Israel, as the nation state of the Jewish People.  They did not request specific aid from either Israel (smart, as that would clearly be counterproductive) nor from the US.

Their proposal is to ‘entice’ Palestinians from the so-called “refugee camps” to leave those camps and move to the new “Palestine” – Palestinians used to have full Jordon citizenship but this was revoked in 1988 by the King, by fiat.  They desire to restore that citizenship, somewhat in imitation of Israel’s Law of Return (though that phrasing was not used).

They also ‘desire’ future cooperation with Israel, in the area of economic development, as par the original Feisal-Weizman agreement, and the Assad Letter (father of Hafez).  With emphasis on “desire” and not on “demand” which I found to be both considerate and honourably phrased.

All-in-all, I would consider myself to be supportive.  Of the idea expressed, as expressed, but remain sceptical of its implementation.

The present King, Abdullah II is a horrible, two-faced liar who presides over a dying country, with 50% poverty and starving children; these are known facts here.  He is also the leader, even more so than Abbas, of the anti-Israel processes in the UN and other international bodies.  None of this escapes us here, in Israel; we tend to be rather strong on “reality” here.

Those are the basic facts.  Now I shall discuss briefly my personal views as to what can make this concept a success or cause it to fail – that is, assuming that the persons involved can get past the rather high barrier of getting rid of the King (hopefully, peacefully).

Three Point of Scepticism

1. A) Why should WE trust these persons?
2. B) Why should Palestinian society trust this process/idea?
3. C) Why should the Middle East trust this process?

Point # 1: Taqqiya

Power grabs are not new to the world of Islam; they are a major factor in all of Islamic history.  In that sense, there is nothing basically new in this idea, as presented.  However, a power grab with advice of and perhaps help of Jews is quite original and I “tip my hat” to the creativity expressed in this, and in its courage; that aspect alone could cost these persons their lives, as it cost Abdullah I, in 1951.

Why should we, as Jews and as Israelis, who are familiar with the Middle East, have any level of trust in these persons?  We all know that a basic tenet of Islam, as implemented by Mohammed himself in the agreement with the Quraysh Tribe is Taqqiya – the idea that all lies are permitted to infidels for the betterment of Islam (according to Raphael Patai, Muhammed’s own tribe; according to Bernard Lewis, a Jewish Tribe).  Without casting any personal aspersions upon the two gentlemen we met there who are responsible for this programme and its implementation, the question is a legitimate question.

Data has been presented, mostly dealing with the state of the country and its ruling class – for instance, that the Hashemite family consists of 82-88 persons and that their budgetary requirement is about two-three million dollars per day, per person.  If this is datum is correct, this is clearly representative of a disgusting level of corruption for a relatively poor, third-world country.

Has these data been validated by a third party?  Can these data be trusted?

To some extent, at least, these data will be validated ‘automatically’ if their proposed programme succeeds and they take power with the army’s aid.

They expect to implement, so they claim, an interim government “rapidly followed” by a democracy.  Democracy, as America discovered to its chagrin in both Afghanistan and Iraq, is not natural to Islam-based countries.  Some have called “Muslim Democracy” an oxymoron.  This is an idea whose may yet to be.

Palestinian Society Acceptance

What is going to occur in Palestinian society?  This is a very complex question, as Palestinian society today is composed of many different ‘levels’ – there are the ‘normal’ Palestinians and the refugees; those living within Israel, living in Judea and Samaria and those living in other countries; living in camps or living normal lives.  Even more than this, there are those that live out their lives as normal persons throughout the world and those that thrive on violence.  What happens to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah and all the other groups/organisations that consider the murder of Jews and infidels their duty?

Today, all Palestinian societies, as (for instance) the Kuwaitis discovered to the chagrin, are corrupt; some terribly so (like the PA) many less so; but all are problematical.  Can this affect this corruption?  If not, than nothing they do will ultimately allow for a successful state because no investor today wants to invest in a place riddled with corruption.  The returns just do not justify the expenses.

Palestinian Gnome: Today, the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria and Gaza (I do not have data for those living elsewhere) have the highest rate of consanguinity in the world, resulting in the highest rates of birth defects, the highest rates of eye disease and the highest rates of dialysis in the world.  Both male and female fertility are collapsing rapidly.  The Palestinian genome is in a state of rapid and massive collapse.  There cannot be survival unless this trend is addressed soon and very intelligently.  The Human genome is very respondent to fixing itself, but tens of generations of consanguinity need to be massively reversed for this to occur, and that can only come from a sea-change in Palestinian social networks and attitudes.

As things stand right now, time is clearly on Israel’s side and strongly against Palestinians – in as short as thirty years, we can expect twenty t0 twenty-five million Jews in Israel and disappearance of Palestinian society – medically, by themselves.

The Middle East

Modern history of the Middle East essentially began with the formation of the State of Israel followed by the “Three Nos of Khartoum.”  Can this change that equation?

The entire Middle East is in turmoil and in flux.  Jordon is a false state and a failed state.  If these gentlemen replace the Jordanian government and create a valid and viable state, can it succeed in the face of the massive challenges that face it?

Are there security guarantees from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the two primary Sunni States?  Can such be acquired for long-term viability?

Regardless of whatever you personally decide may be your attitude to this, and I give it at least a fifty percent chance of success, I strongly urge all to follow this as, if it does occur, you do not want to be surprised by facts on the ground.  That is the job of the CIA, to be constantly surprised.

I acknowledge that a benevolent attitude towards the Jordon government, as an ally of the USA is justified.  However, I think blind support of it is somewhat outdated and no longer realistic.  The present government seems to be non-viable or rapidly getting to that position.  Such support was appropriate to Hussein but quite inappropriate to Abdulla II – he despises both Israel and the USA.  His human rights record is awful and his personal corruption is reminiscent of some of the worst in our time.