T. Belman. Singer avoids mentioning this paragraph in the Saudi Plan.
“This proposed enlarged kingdom would include present-day Jordan, Gaza, and the West Bank (areas populated by Palestinians attached in a contiguous manner and physically connected to Jordan, i.e., not broken up into islands). Israeli arguments as to the need to retain the Jordan Valley become moot since the valley will now be controlled by a Jordanian government with a reliable record of maintaining peace with Israel. “
Notice that it isn’t limited to Areas A, B and Gaza. It is close to Trump’s plan which gave Israel 30% of Area C and included the Jordan Valley. The Saudi Plan can do without the Jordan valley.
The Jordan Option differs from the Saudi Plan in that it involves the replacement of the monarchy and the birth of Jordan as a republic. Its present western boundary of the Jordan River remains. The New Jordan does not get sovereignty over any lands west of the River. It simply puts Jordan in charge of the Palestinian Authority which has an administrative role in A, B and Gaza, maybe forever. As such it should be totally acceptable to a majority of Israelis.
The Jordan Option goes further and supports incentivizing Palestinians to emigrate to Jordan. Jordan under Mudar’s leadership is prepared to accept all emigrants but is against the expulsion of Palestinians from Israel. So is Israel.
Will an Israeli De Gaulle emerge to endorse Mr Shihabi’s plan as part of his platform in the upcoming Israeli elections?
Dry Bones – which one is the statesman? Y. Krischen
A plan proposed by Ali Shihabi – a Saudi author and commentator on Middle Eastern Politics – proposing the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the ‘West Bank’ into one single territorial entity to be called “The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine” – has received little attention in the Israeli media or been commented on by Israeli politicians since its release on 8 June.
Yet the plan contains the following features which should excite Israel’s reluctant media to be seeking responses from its political leaders:
It would supersede two previous Saudi peace proposals in 1981 and 2002 calling for Israel to withdraw completely from the ‘West Bank’
- The two-state solution – the creation of a separate Palestinian Arab State between Jordan and Israel – promoted unsuccessfully by the United Nations for the last 29 years – is consigned to the diplomatic graveyard
- Amman – not Jerusalem – will be the capital of The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
- The right of return to Israel is abandoned.
- Palestinians in the ‘West Bank’, Gaza and stateless refugees get full citizenship in the merged Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine with all the elements of sovereignty applicable to those Territories that belonging to a fully recognized state in the UN entail.
I reached out to the author Ali Shihabi – who kindly gave me the following interview:
What was your idea behind this paper?
I see a failure of Israeli imagination in looking for a solution to the Palestine tragedy. This combined with a lack of realism dominating Palestinian Arab thinking has provided multiple opportunities for political entrepreneurs like the Iranians to use and misuse the cause. Israelis want to perpetuate this inertia by kicking the can continuously down the road while looking for every excuse to do nothing substantive to solve this problem.
Israel sees time to be on its side (and so far it has been proven right) but fundamentals like 7 million Arabs living between the river and the sea are a time bomb that eventually will blow up in their face one way or another. ( think the proper number is 5.5 million. Still a time bomb.)
Why Jordan?
We have seen from recent experience that state building is a virtually impossible task, particularly in a polarized environment so creating a “Palestinian State” from scratch is a fool’s errand. At the same time Jordan is a decently run country by regional standards and hence its government infrastructure can be used to incorporate ‘Palestine’ which will instantly have a globally recognized and respected government with all the basics like security, government bureaucracy etc.
But many Jordanians don’t want anything to do with this?
Yes, a false separate “Jordanian” identity has developed over the last decades from what is really a people with zero differences, ethnic or religious that have been one people since time immemorial so that is a problem. That difference has been pushed by some Jordanian elites in a quest to perpetuate their dominance. This formula however does not eliminate Jordanian elites and preserves the monarchy and all its institutions and makes Jordan/’Palestine’ a much more viable and strategically important state with a substantial footprint on the Mediterranean and a state critically important for regional stability, so it is really in their long-term interest.
In any event if a consensus among the powers that be decides on this formula Jordanian elites can be convinced. They are a minor obstacle once you separate the noise from the substance.
Well, many Palestinians don’t want it also it seems
That is the million-dollar question and is one that should be decided by extensive polling and then confirmed by a plebiscite. My guess is that a majority of Palestinian Arabs defined as those that are paying the price daily for the status quo, i.e. those in Gaza, ‘West Bank’ and the refugee camps in Lebanon Syria and Jordan would vote for it once it is explained clearly to them. It is important that only they should decide and not Palestinian Arabs comfortable in the diaspora with citizenships in other countries or other Arabs and Muslims who pay no price for taking an absolutist position.
It is easy to sit sipping your cappuccino at a Starbucks in Dubai or L.A and demand unrealistic solutions since its no skin off your and your family’s back while the people suffering from the status quo continue to pay the heavy price.
So, what is required here to get this process going?
Israel is the key factor. It holds most of the cards and its military, economic and political success since 1948 has made its leaders arrogant and contemptuous of the Arabs generally since the Israelis have imposed their terms on the region despite all Arab efforts and noise made in decades past. This arrogance is clouding Israeli judgement and blinding them to the opportunity that presents itself today for them to drive a sustainable peace process.
They can get a lot of what they want but have to give a bit to get a sustainable solution that will integrate them into the region permanently, but this will require an Israeli De Gaulle with guts and vision, and I don’t see one on the horizon unfortunately
Will an Israeli De Gaulle emerge to endorse Mr Shihabi’s plan as part of his platform in the upcoming Israeli elections in November? I hope the media ask the politicians for their answers before Election Day.
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.
@Sebastien
Your are confusing the Saudi Peace Initiative of 2002 with the Saudi Plan of 2022. They are two entirely different things..
David is promoting the latter.
Rule of thumb: Anybody who portrays the Arabs as David and Israel as Goliath is an enemy. Agreements not rooted in temporary mutual expedience are rooted in fantasy.
Re: The article: sounds like a return to status quo ante 1967. You notice it says nothing about removing the demand for expulsion of Jewish “settlements.”
Care for some vodka and taqiyah with your Turkish coffee?
😀
“Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Listen to the hatred this article is virtually dripping with:
“So, what is required here to get this process going?
‘Israel is the key factor. It holds most of the cards and its military, economic and political success since 1948 has made its leaders arrogant and contemptuous of the Arabs generally since the Israelis have imposed their terms on the region despite all Arab efforts and noise made in decades past. This arrogance is clouding Israeli judgement and blinding them to the opportunity that presents itself today for them to drive a sustainable peace process.”
Kids, don’t accept any candy from ths man, is my advice.
@David Singer I meant to say, the Saudi Peace Initiative isn’t going anywhere even now. The Abraham Accords are on the runway about to takeoff. All I was saying was that the best that that can be gotten from Muslim nations is Hudna not peace, with apparent notable exceptions such as Azerbaijan. As a general rule, moreover, the people of these countries are worse than their rulers which is why the Scharansky-inspired neo-con strategy of banking on “democracy” has usually spectacularly backfired.
—
addendum to:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
@David Singer Sharon rejected it because it calls for return of all “Palestinian” refugees. It also calls for withdrawal to ’67 lines and expulsion of all Jews from Yesha.
It’s absurd to think this will ever be the basis for anything since it calls for Israel’s self-immolation as a precondition. ” We couldn’t defeat you on the battlefield but we’ll be your friend if you kill yourself.”. ?
They need Israel’s technology and force of arms more than Israeli Jews need to be liked. The Abraham Accords aren’t going anywhere, especially now.
My post, from quite some time ago, relates to the longterm feasibility of any peace with Jordan. It’s one of quite a few examples that show that, as in most of the Muslim world, with notable exceptions such as Azerbaijan and Iran, the people are even worse than their governments, as the Arab Spring demonstrated. Do recall my posts about the “Island of Peace” Massacre and its aftermath, not just then but more recently? Or, the terror incident at the embassy recently? This is after the peace treaty.
https://www.mei.edu/publications/arab-peace-initiative-returns-will-it-supplant-abraham-accords
Arab peace initiative: full text
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/mar/28/israel7
“The United Nations General Assembly adopts resolution 194 (III), resolving that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for …”
https://www.unrwa.org › content › r…
Resolution 194 | UNRWA
–
“Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:
1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.
2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:
a. Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights to the lines of June 4, 1967 as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
b. Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
c. The acceptance of the establishment of a Sovereign Independent Palestinian State on the Palestinian territories occupied since the 4th of June 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza strip, with east Jerusalem as its capital….”
My name is spelled, en not an.
@David Singer Sharon rejected it because it calls for return of all “Palestinian” refugees. It also calls for withdrawal to ’67 lines and expulsion of all Jews from Yesha.
It’s absurd to think this will ever be the basis for anything since it calls for Israel’s self-immolation as a precondition. ” We couldn’t defeat you on the battlefield but we’ll be your friend if you kill yourself.”. ?
They need Israel’s technology and force of arms more than Israeli Jews need to be liked. The Abraham Accords aren’t going anywhere, especially now.
My post, from quite some time ago, relates to the longterm feasibility of any peace with Jordan. It’s one of quite a few examples that show that, as in most of the Muslim world, with notable exceptions such as Azerbaijan and Iran, the people are even worse than their governments, as the Arab Spring demonstrated. Do recall my posts about the “Island of Peace” Massacre and its aftermath, not just then but more recently? Or, the terror incident at the embassy recently? This is after the peace treaty.
https://www.mei.edu/publications/arab-peace-initiative-returns-will-it-supplant-abraham-accords
Arab peace initiative: full text
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/mar/28/israel7
“The United Nations General Assembly adopts resolution 194 (III), resolving that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for …”
https://www.unrwa.org › content › r…
Resolution 194 | UNRWA
–
“Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:
1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.
2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:
a. Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights to the lines of June 4, 1967 as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
b. Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
c. The acceptance of the establishment of a Sovereign Independent Palestinian State on the Palestinian territories occupied since the 4th of June 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza strip, with east Jerusalem as its capital….”
My name is spelled, en not an.
#Sebastian
Focus on the 2022 Saudi Plan and what its author has to say about the Plan – not a 2018 statement made by someone else that has nothing to do with the Saudi Plan.
#Sebastian
Focus on the 2022 Saudi Plan and what its author has to say about the Plan – not a 2018 statement made by someone else.
https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/peaceful-former-jordanian-pm-says-if-we-can-we-will-take-haifa-back-566171
A hudna is not peace.