A PALESTINIAN JORDAN: OPPORTUNITIES VS. THREATS

By Mudar Zahran, JPOST  JUNE 2014

Israel Jordan

The concept of a Palestinian state in Jordan is not new. In fact, Jordan was created based on the Faisal-Weizmann agreement by which Jews agreed to give away 78 percent of the British Mandate for Palestine to the Hashemites to establish a homeland for the Palestinian Arabs.

The Hashemites have never kept their promise. Even today, the UNHCR reports that Jordan’s Palestinian majority is still treated as “refugees” by Jordan’s king.

Still, the concept of a Palestinian Jordan – and a Jewish Israel – has come back to life after the Arab Spring.

Jordan has an 88% Palestinian majority – as indicated by a US Embassy Amman cable – and if the king falls, that majority will elect a Palestinian president, a Palestinian parliament and a Palestinian government. Therefore, we Palestinians will have a state for the first time ever.

Countless reports confirm the Palestinians have been oppressed by this king much more than by his father; in fact, Abdullah is still stripping Palestinians of their passports.

Therefore, a Palestinian Spring in Jordan has been likely to happen for the past three years.

In 2011, I wrote several articles predicting a Jordanian revolution. This was dismissed by the king’s cheerleaders in Washington, DC, and Jerusalem. Nonetheless, the revolution took place in November 2012. Half a million, mostly from the refugee camps, took to the streets calling for a regime change.

Then, the US openly supported the revolution. Nonetheless, Israel stood up to defend the king. Israel’s lobby and diplomats particularly in Washington, DC, Moscow and Qatar were relentless and convinced the powers that be to defuse the revolution.

The king survived, but nonetheless he remained deserted by his historic allies. The US does not seem to care for him much; his pleas for additional aid were never answered. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are angered by the king’s open alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood (yes I did say the Muslim Brotherhood), Assad’s Syria and Iraq’s Shi’ite government.

Also, the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Egypt’s President Abdel Sisi was “not eager to deal with Jordan’s king because of his support to the Muslims Brotherhood and refusal to ban them.”

The only reason the king is still in power today is because of Israel’s intelligence and diplomatic support. Nonetheless, this king makes sure to punish Israel for each favor it does him. As Yediot Aharonot reported, the king was the one who proposed US Secretary of State John Kerry’s anti-Israel “peace” plan to President Barack Obama in 2013; it is Abdullah’s plan, not Kerry’s.

Also, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that he asked the US for $55 billion in exchange for “accepting” his own Palestinians! Furthermore, the Hamas-Fatah unity deal was brokered directly by the king and Qatar. The king used his Muslim Brotherhood allies in Amman to lobby Hamas to accept the deal, another slap in the face to Israel.

But why is Israel tolerating all of this? Israel’s dogma is: The Palestinians in Jordan are hostile and they must be kept under the Hashemites’ control.

Nonetheless, keeping the king in power is too demanding for Israel. Can Israel keep it up forever? Also, with the amount of money and intelligence work invested in keeping the king on his throne, Israel could place any secular leader in power for a Palestinian Jordan.

Further, the Israeli establishment must understand that a Palestinian state in eastern Palestine (a.k.a. Jordan), even if hostile, is a problem on Israel’s borders, while a Palestinian state the West Bank, even if friendly, is a problem inside Israel itself.

A few months ago, the protests against the king stopped and many of his cheerleaders in Washington, DC, and Jerusalem began celebrating. Then, I warned that the peaceful protesting was over, and violence was in. My statements were again dismissed by the king’s pep squad.

Today, Maan in the south has been raging for months with gun battles between locals and the king’s police. There have been many casualties, and RPGs were used to destroy several armored carriers. Ajloun in the north, has also been burning with confrontations, and two refugee camps witnessed exchanges of fire with the police. The death toll stands at three per week and rising.

And as icing on the cake, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is now pledging to “liberate Jordan.”

Is that what Israel expected when it did everything to keep Abdullah in power? Israel has wisely kept itself distant from the entire Arab Spring affair to avoid being blamed for that mess. Israel should adopt the same policy with regard to Jordan.

Israel does not have to take action, all it has to do is let the king go. And maybe then direct its effort toward making the US support a secular Jordanian leader.

Those who claim the king will be replaced by Islamists need to examine the facts: the king has been aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) since day one, he refused the Saudis’ demands to ban the group and said in an interview with Jeffery Goldberg that there was a margin of 10% disagreement between him and the MB. The king’s minister of reform said to Al Jazeera: “The MB is a part of the Hashemites’ regime” and MB leader Zaki Bani Rusheid said recently, “The king is a necessity…and we oppose limiting any of his powers.”

Further, the MB recently held elections for its governing board and out of 100 only nine were Palestinians. Therefore, Jordan’s Palestinians are not pro-Islamist and when the king falls, the MB will fall with him.

Also, border security between Jordan and Israel will not be compromised, because the American military has one of its largest bases in Jordan already, and the Jordanian army is financed and fully controlled by the US Defense Intelligence Agency. This means borders will remain secure and no civil war will happen.

A declassified White House document aired by Al Jazeera in 2011 showed Hennry Kissinger wanted the Palestinians to win the war against Hussein in 1970 to establish what he described as “a Palestinian settlement.”

We in the Jordanian opposition support that kind of settlement by all means – and a Jewish Israel.

We would never agree to our Palestinian brothers being deported from Ramallah to Amman; nonetheless, they should become Jordanian citizens residing in Israel, not citizens of a Jewish Israel.

We see the new Jordan as a secular, demilitarized and welfare state.

The opportunity for a Palestinian Jordan and a Jewish Israel is ripe. Nonetheless, the opportunity knocks, but does not beg.

February 6, 2017 | 16 Comments »

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16 Comments / 16 Comments

  1. @Mudar Zahran
    Not 78%. At the time the decision was made, “Palestine” extended east only to the Damascus – Hejaz Ry. Therefore only 40% to 50% was intended to be given away

  2. That’s the worry. Is this Taquiya or for real?

    Relevant Excerpts from the Ten Point “Phased Plan”

    “The Liberation Organization will employ all means, and first and foremost armed struggle, to liberate Palestinian territory and to establish the independent combatant national authority for the people over every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated. This will require further changes being effected in the balance of power in favour of our people and their struggle.
    The Liberation Organization will struggle against any proposal for a Palestinian entity the price of which is recognition, peace, secure frontiers, renunciation of national rights and the deprival of our people of their right to return and their right to self-determination on the soil of their homeland…”

    ‘Struggle along with the Jordanian national forces to establish a Jordanian-Palestinian national front whose aim will be to set up in Jordan a democratic national authority in close contact with the Palestinian entity that is established through the struggle.
    The Liberation Organization will struggle to establish unity in struggle between the two peoples and between all the forces of the Arab liberation movement that are in agreement on this programme…

    ‘Once it is estabished, the Palestinian national authority will strive to achieve a union of the confrontation countries, with the aim of completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory, and as a step along the road to comprehensive Arab unity.”

    http://www.iris.org.il/plophase.htm


    “Now it is fair to ask: This document is almost thirty years old. Does it really matter anymore? Hasn’t the Palestinian leadership progressed past this point? Didn’t it approve the peace agreement at Oslo in 1993?

    ‘The Palestinian leadership itself has given many clues regarding its true intentions. Yasser Arafat has had a long history of saying one thing in English, and something entirely different and contradictory to his own people in Arabic. On the day he signed the Oslo Accords he told Jordanian and Egyptian media that these accords are not to be taken seriously but are part of the “plan of phases.” He also made the following statements:

    “Only a Palestinian State can continue the struggle to remove the enemy from all Palestinian lands” (Jerusalem Post, November 18, 1994).

    “This is the phased program which we all adopted in 1974 – why do you oppose it?” (Arafat responding to critics of the treaties with Israel, July 1995).

    “The Oslo II Agreement is a delayed realization of a stage in the PLO’s 1974 phased plan” (A-Datsur [Jordanian Newspaper], September 19, 1995).
    In a closed meeting with Arab diplomats in Stockholm he made the following statement (which was leaked by one person present and reported by Cal Thomas in the Washington Times, also by the Middle East Digest, March 7, 1996):

    “Within five years we will have 6 to 7 million Arabs living on the West Bank and in Jerusalem…. We plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. Jews will not want to live among Arabs. I have no use for Jews….We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem.”
    He also made reference to the 1974 Phased Plan in an interview on Egyptian Orbit TV on April 18, 1998:(2)

    ‘Question: Were you under pressure from the Arab states then?

    Arafat: No. In 1974, at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Cairo, we passed the decision to establish national Palestinian rule over any part of the land of Palestine which is liberated.

    Q: If a violent incident occurs, [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu will exploit it and say that it is for this reason that he is not hurrying to make an agreement with the Palestinians, since they are incapable of controlling the situation.

    Arafat: I know his tricks. Everyone must know that all options are open before the Palestinian people, and not just the Palestinian people, but before the entire Arab nation.

    …Q: How do you explain that you occasionally ask the Palestinian street not to explode?

    Arafat: When the prophet Muhammad made the Khudaibiya agreement, he agreed to remove his title “messenger of Allah” from the agreement. Then, Omar bin Khatib and the others referred to this agreement as the “inferior peace agreement.” Of course, I do not compare myself to the prophet, but I do say that we must learn from his steps and those of Salah a-Din. The peace agreement which we signed is an “inferior peace.” The conditions [behind it] are the intifada, which lasted for seven years.
    In this last response Arafat makes reference to the “Khudaibiya agreement.” He has frequently made this comparison. The Khudaibiya agreement was a peace agreement that Muhammad made with the Arabian tribe of Quraish. It was the prototype of today’s hudna (truce): not a sincere offer of peace but a tactic of battle, whose purpose is to lull the enemy until one can regain a position of strength. The agreement was to last ten years but Muhammad broke it within two, using the truce to strengthen himself so that he could attack and defeat the Quraish tribe. Similarly, Salah a-Din (or Saladin) used the tactic of a ceasefire to strengthen himself to attack the Christian Crusaders and throw them out of Jerusalem. In the Palestinian Arab newspaper Al Quds on May 10, 1998 Arafat was asked: “Do you feel sometimes that you made a mistake in agreeing to Oslo?” His reply: “No …. no. Allah’s messenger Muhammad accepted the al-Khudaibiya peace treaty and Salah a-Din accepted the peace agreement with Richard the Lion-Hearted.”

    Indeed, less than a year after the signing of the Oslo accords, in a speech delivered in a Johannesburg, South Africa mosque on May 10, 1994, Arafat stated: “This agreement [Oslo], I am not considering it more than the agreement which had been signed between our prophet Muhammad and Quraish, and you remember that the Caliph Omar had refused this agreement and considered it a despicable truce…But the same way Muhammad had accepted it, we are now accepting this peace effort.” (Ha’aretz, May 23, 1994)

    Arafat thus reassures his people that the Oslo accords are a similar temporary measure meant only to hold until the Palestinians are ready to attack and defeat Israel.

    And he is not alone. Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf), Arafat’s deputy, explained the meaning of the Phased Plan to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Anba (Dec. 18, 1988): “At first a small state, and with the help of Allah, it will be made large, and expand to the east, west, north and south. I am interested in the liberation of Palestine, step by step…. According to the Phased Plan, we will establish a Palestinian state on any part of Palestine that the enemy will retreat from. The Palestinian state will be a stage in our prolonged struggle for the liberation of Palestine on all of its territories.”

    And in an interview carried by the Egyptian daily Al-Arabi (June 24, 2001) Feisal Husseini, a senior Palestinian minister and key player at the Madrid and Oslo conferences, explicitly stated that the Oslo agreement must be understood as one step in the “Phased Plan,” and that the Palestinian strategy is to defeat Israel by means of a “Trojan Horse”:

    “The people of Troy climbed on top of the walls of their city and could not find any traces of the Greek army, except for a giant wooden horse. They cheered and celebrated thinking that the Greek troops were routed, and while retreating, they left a harmless wooden horse as the spoils of war. So Troy opened the gates of the city and brought in the wooden horse. This allowed the Greeks to overwhelm the city. This is precisely the strategy of the Palestinian Authority. Had the U.S. and Israel not realized, before Oslo, that all that was left of the Palestinian National movement and the Pan-Arab movement was a wooden horse called Yasser Arafat or the PLO, they would never have opened their fortified gates and let it inside of their walls! Now, We are Inside of Israel! Now, the time has come for us to say: ‘Come out of the horse and start fighting.’ So, it is thanks to this horse (Oslo) that we were able to get into the walled-in city (Jerusalem ). In my opinion, the Intifada represents in and of itself the emergence out of the horse. Praise Allah, by now we have all come out of the horse, those who were with Arafat and those from the opposition (Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists)….

    “The strategic goal is the liberation of Palestine from the Jordanian River to the Mediterranean Sea, even if this means that the conflict will last for another thousand years or for many generations.”
    Ironically, Feisal Husseini has often been praised as a man of peace – further testimony to the success of the Palestinian deception campaign.

    Another top PLO official, Abdul Aziz Shaheen, Minister of Supplies for Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, has also stated that Oslo is just one part of the Phased Plan strategy for Israel’s destruction. He told the official Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Jan. 4, 1998): “The Oslo accord was a preface for the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Authority will be a preface for the Palestinian state which, in its turn, will be a preface for the liberation of the entire Palestinian land.”

    And in case more evidence is needed, here are more quotations from Palestinian sources, even after Oslo, revealing their true intentions:

    “The struggle against the Zionist enemy is not a matter of borders but relates to the mere existence of the Zionist entity.” (PLO spokesman Bassam-abu-Sharif, Kuwait News Agency, May 31, 1996).

    “After the establishment of a Palestinian State in all of the West Bank and Gaza, the struggle against Israel will continue” (Knesset Member Azmi Bishara, Ha’aretz weekly supplement, 22 May 1998).

    “We may lose or win, but our eyes will continue to aspire to the strategic goal; namely, Palestine from the [Jordan] river to the sea.” (West Bank Fatah chief Marwan Barghouti, New Yorker, July 2, 2001).
    These statements from Palestinian leaders should be more than enough evidence to demonstrate that they do not now, nor have they ever, had any intention of making peace with Israel.(3)

    And I have not even mentioned the Palestinians’ insistence, as one of their conditions for “peace,” on the “right of return” of up to four million Palestinian refugees to land inside Israel proper. This would effectively annul the 1948 partition and would before long turn what is now Israel into another Arab state. The proponents of the Palestinian “right of return” are of course fully aware of this.

    A realistic peace must begin with taking seriously what the parties involved are really saying, instead of hearing only what we wish they would say.”

    “Notes:

    1. “The PLO’s ‘Phased Plan’.” June 9, 1974.

    2. “Arafat Invokes 1974 Phased Plan Calling for Israel’s Destruction.” Egyptian Orbit TV, April 18, 1998.

    3. Many similar quotations, with full citations, may be found in Emmanuel Navon, “The PLO Anthology,” Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland Middle East Briefing vol. 4 no. 9, December 12, 2001.

    Source – http://www.peacewithrealism.org/wmbdfp2.htm THE PHASED PLAN FOR ISRAEL’S DESTRUCTION at Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Peace with Realism ”

    http://www.zionism-israel.com/ezine/wmbdfp2_.htm

    —-
    “PEACE AT LAST: PALESTINE IN 2013
    After Israel gave the Palestinians everything they wanted, the newly formed Palestinian government just wanted a few more things.”
    May 3, 2011 Steven Plaut 0

    “Within Israel, many voices were heard in favor of the proposal. Large rallies were held on the university campuses, organized by leftist faculty members. Sociologists from around the world produced studies showing that these Arabs were victims of horrible discrimination and that Israel as a state is characterized by institutional racism. Israeli poets and novelists wrote passionate appeals for support of the Galilee and Negev ‘Others.’…Israel´s own leftists launched a Movement against Apartheid, and the foreign press reported that 400,000 protested attended a rally by the Movement in Rabin Square. Cars around Israel had bumper stickers that read “My Son Will Not Die for Nazareth” and “Peace Now”. The Israeli Left urged people to refuse to do army service outside metropolitan Tel Aviv. The Israeli Labor Party proposed erecting a series of separating barriers throughout the Galilee under the slogan “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors”…Leftist Israeli professors officially joined the Arab militias fighting for liberation, as did solidarity protesters from Western countries. Two of the latter blew themselves up on a Jewish school bus to show their solidarity with the oppressed Arabs. …”

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/91917/peace-last-palestine-2013-steven-plaut

    ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’ to Host Convicted Palestinian Terrorist at Upcoming National Conference
    FEBRUARY 6, 2017 3:30 PM0

    A Jewish human rights organization will be hosting a convicted Palestinian terrorist at its upcoming conference, The Algemeiner has learned.

    Rasmea Odeh, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), is a featured speaker at the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) 2017 National Member Meeting. Odeh is slated to speak during the “All In!” workshop alongside three other panelists, including Linda Sarsour, a vocal anti-Israel activist who recently made headlines for her involvement in and comments during last month’s Women’s March in Washington, DC.

    In 1970, Odeh was sentenced to life in prison by an Israeli military court for her involvement in an illegal organization and planting the explosives used in two 1969 Jerusalem bombings. The first attack, at a grocery store, killed two Hebrew University students and wounded nine others. The second, which occurred four days later, targeted the British Consulate. After spending 10 years in prison, Odeh was one of 78 terrorists freed by Israel during a prisoner swap with the PFLP.

    Odeh made headlines once again in 2013 when she was indicted by a US court for immigration fraud. The PFLP terrorist was found guilty of having concealed her arrest, conviction and imprisonment on her immigration forms, resulting in the revoking of her citizenship. Odeh’s lawyers filed an appeal, claiming she is innocent of the terrorism attributed to her; that her confession was obtained under duress; and that she suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Odeh was later hit with a new terrorism-related indictment, and she is currently awaiting trial in May.

    Odeh’s scheduled appearance at the JVP conference highlights concerns frequently raised about the organization and its controversial anti-Israel activity. JVP is a vocal proponent of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and, according to a campus watchdog study, has “expanded its presence on American campuses…helping [non-Jewish anti-Israel organizations] legitimize anti-Zionist rhetoric and effectively defend against accusations of antisemitism.”

    The JVP event is scheduled to take place in Chicago from March 31 to April 2. Attendees will take part in various panels and workshops, including “Freedom Fighting Under State Repression,” “Fighting Against Anti-BDS Legislation” and “Zionism, Antisemitism and White Supremacy: Ideological and Political Currents.”

    “JVP did not respond to The Algemeiner’s request for comment by press time.”

    https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/02/06/jewish-voice-for-peace-host-convicted-palestinian-terrorist-rasmea-odeh-during-upcoming-national-conference/

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murderers_Among_Us

  3. The Jordanian king began a visit to Australia at the invitation of Governor-General Peter Cosgrove.”
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161124-jordan-king-iran-responsible-for-fuelling-regions-sectarian-conflict

    On the 28th November King Judas of Jordan slipped into New Zealand. A lame reception with no press questions.This was after Kerry and Biden had prepared the path with surreptitious visits in mid November. The underground plot to stab Israel in the back UN SCR 2334 is already fading.

  4. This article makes it sound like he’s trying to forge a common front including both U.S. and Russia:

    “Jordan king: Iran responsible for fuelling region’s sectarian conflict
    November 24, 2016 at 10:30 pm | Published in: Iran, Jordan, Middle East, News, Syria
    Jordan’s King Abdullah II yesterday said that Iran is responsible for inciting sectarian conflict in the Middle East region.

    The king made his remarks during an interview with Australia’s ABC TV channel which covered a range of key issues on the Arab and international arenas.

    Remaking on the Syrian conflict, King Abdullah explained that there would be no solution in Syria without Russia.

    “I think most of us that understand Syria realise that there cannot be a solution [to the Syrian conflict] without the Russians, and this has been something all of us have been discussing for the past year or two,” he said.

    “So at this stage we have to wait to see what is the US strategy, how they’re going to deal with Russians.”

    “At the end of the day we’re dealing with a global terror problem, a new third world war by other means … not post-Cold War where I had a feeling that there was more hatred between Moscow and Washington than there was against the extremists that we’re dealing with globally,” he added.

    The Jordanian king began a visit to Australia at the invitation of Governor-General Peter Cosgrove.”
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161124-jordan-king-iran-responsible-for-fuelling-regions-sectarian-conflict/

  5. An article in the Economist articulates the condition of Jordan in Regional and International power politics. I am only reporting this article not advocating for its accuracy. I would be interested if Mudar would state his opinion on the article.

    Not much might in the Hashemites
    Jordan plays it safe

    Despite the urging of allies, the kingdom is curbing its regional ambitions

    IF ONLY he knew which way to turn. Last week King Abdullah of Jordan went to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to discuss how to stabilise Syria under the continued rule of Bashar al-Assad. This week he has been in Washington, DC, anxious to explore how Jordan might help President Donald Trump to implement his idea for carving up Syria into safe zones.

    Playing great powers off against one another has long been a Hashemite trademark. King Abdullah’s great-great-grandfather, the Sharif of Mecca, dallied with both the Ottoman and British empires, before going for British gold. Before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 King Abdullah received envoys from both Saddam Hussein and President George W. Bush, auctioning his backing to the highest bidder. Now, as funding from Saudi Arabia dries up, the king (via the Russians) is in contact with the Saudis’ arch-rival, Iran, whose forces operate on his borders with Syria and Iraq. He once sounded the alarm over a “Shia crescent” extending Iran’s influence to the Mediterranean; now that it is materialising he is coming to terms with it.

    article continues here:

    http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21716096-despite-urging-allies-kingdom-curbing-its-regional-ambitions-jordan

    On Palestine King Abdullah is most cautious of all. Palestinian nationalists shot his grandfather dead after he split Jerusalem with the Zionists in 1948. His father, Hussein, only just survived a Palestinian revolt in September 1970. Abdullah prefers to keep out of the fray. Jordan First, he tells the Palestinians who make up most of his population, rejecting a larger West Bank role. Better a falcon in a cage than a bird shot down in mid-flight.

  6. So, it would appear that Israel discovered the mother lode of natural gas at home just in time to prevent an “Arab Spring,” with all of its attendant horrors that we have seen, next door. If Obama’s cooperative stance is due to the “Israeli Lobby” that article refers to, it would have to be on account of something like this in the offing and the impact of energy considerations on the always oil conscious and therefore hitherto Arabist — anti-semitism, aside — State Dept. Otherwise, we have seen how utterly ineffective the “Israeli Lobby,” presumably meaning AIPAC, much touted by paranoid anti-semites for being all powerful, was under Obama. Ineffective under Obama and unnecessary under Trump. How much longer can AIPAC survive?

    Again, If I were of a religious bent, I might be thinking divine intervention, miracles? But, I’m not. So, I won’t. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. So, I don’t get to set foot in the promised land. Next.

  7. @ Ted Belman:
    OK, some things came up when I googled: November 2012 Jordanian Revolution

    At first glance, the protests seem to have been motivated by economic hardship and a desire for democracy, according to the articles I found, a Wikipedia article whose accuracy is disputed (doesn’t say by whom or why) and a bbc article. Links to background information would be appreciated. Am I alone in not having heard about any of these events before?

    At first, I typed: Obama Jordan
    and all that came up was articles about Obama and Michael Jordan.

    Aaah. Light Bulb.

    Protests in Jordan after spike in fuel prices

    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/11/2012111464145140480.html

    “…decision this week to raise fuel prices led to demonstrations that raised the specter of long-term instability…”

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-jordan-protest-idUSBRE8AF0LK20121116

    Jordan unrest: Clashes after fuel protest

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-20373021

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/15/jordan-police-station-attack-protests

    Largest Natural Gas Reserve Discovered in Israel Worth Approximately $95 Billion
    More than 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas discovered off Haifa shore in joint U.S.-Israeli drilling operation.

    Avi Bar-Eli, Lior Zeno and Yaron Cohen Zemah Dec 29, 2010 6:45 PM
    read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/largest-natural-gas-reserve-discovered-in-israel-worth-approximately-95-billion-1.334111

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_gas_field

    Field of dreams: Israel’s natural gas
    AUGUST 31, 2012 by: Tobias Buck
    https://www.ft.com/content/1dbda574-f16d-11e1-a553-00144feabdc0

    ISRAEL TO SUPPLY GAS TO JORDAN IN $10 BILLION DEAL – Sept. 2016
    http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Environment/Israels-Leviathan-reservoir-to-supply-gas-to-Jordan-468742

    “On 12 June, in a television speech commemorating 12 years on the throne, the king said he would relinquish his right to appoint prime ministers and cabinets, instead, elected parliamentary majority would be the ones to form future cabinets. He also said that more reforms would be announced in the future, including new election and political party laws.[73]
    Prime minister Al Bakhit resigned on 17 October, after 70 of 120 deputies had called for his resignation for failing to swiftly implement the political reform package. King Abdullah appointed Awn al-Khasawneh as the new prime minister.[74]
    On April 2012, Prime Minister Awn al-Khasawneh resigns abruptly, was unable to satisfy either demands for reform or establishment fears of empowering the opposition. King Abdullah appointed former prime minister Fayez al-Tarawneh to succeed him.
    On 4 October 2012, King Abdullah II dissolves the parliament for new early elections, and appointed Abdullah Ensour as the new prime minister of Jordan.[8]
    International response[edit]
    United States – State Department spokesman Mark Toner says the Obama administration believes King Abdullah II is on the “right track” despite the protests, “”We call on protestors to do so peacefully. We support King Abdullah II’s roadmap for reform and the aspirations of the Jordanian people to foster a more inclusive political process that will promote security, stability as well as economic development.”[75]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80%9312_Jordanian_protests


    OK. I have an open mind.

  8. @ Sebastien Zorn:
    I think JOC believes they have to do a deal that’s great for Israel if they want its support. So they did a reversal on this.

    Also at first they din’t want to alienate their base. In the end they had to take that chance and come up with something that Israel would want.

  9. @ Ted Belman:
    I see. I should remember to look at the date. So, what happened with all of that? Is Jordan still in a state of incipient insurrection, as suggested by the article? Also, my questions about the information in the article remain. Finally, Is this article still relevant?

  10. @ Edgar G.:
    I pointed this out to Mudar asking him to affirm his change of heart. When I was corresponding with him just prior to writing my article he was quite clear that they would incentivize Palestinians to return to Jordan and that we could do the same.

  11. @ Edgar G.:
    I pointed this out to Mudar asking him to afffirm his change of heart. When I was corresponding with him just prior to writing my article he was quite clear that they would incentivize Palestinians to return to Jordan and that we could do the same.

  12. “Today, Maan in the south has been raging for months with gun battles between locals and the king’s police. There have been many casualties, and RPGs were used to destroy several armored carriers. Ajloun in the north, has also been burning with confrontations, and two refugee camps witnessed exchanges of fire with the police. The death toll stands at three per week and rising.”

    “Locals?” What does that mean? Who is doing the fighting? What are their demands? Who is leading them? Where did they get RPGs? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG
    That’s serious hardware. The stuff terrorists use.

    Exchanges of gunfire between refugee camps and police? Palestinian Refugee Camps? So, would this be Hamas? The whole camp is an armed camp exchanging gun fire? Didn’t the article say that it would be conducive to peace to put the Palestinians in charge? Isn’t it more likely to be a repeat of “Black September” (after which the terrorist group that murdered the Israeli athletes at the Olympics named itself.)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September

    It all comes back to the Phased Plan. There’s no getting around it. The Palestinian Arabs need to be removed from the region to be neutralized as a threat.

    Here are the ten points of the phased plan. See no. 5:

    “Struggle along with the Jordanian national forces to establish a Jordanian-Palestinian national front whose aim will be to set up in Jordan a democratic national authority in close contact with the Palestinian entity that is established through the struggle.”

    http://www.zionism-israel.com/ezine/wmbdfp2_.htm

    “And as icing on the cake, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is now pledging to “liberate Jordan.””

    And since the King, like Assad in Syria, is the only legitimate internationally recognized government facing chaotic insurgent Jihadist forces, is that not rather a recipe for Putin coming in to shore up the King?

    Also, I never got an answer to my question about whether this is the same Muslim Brotherhood? I posted links. The Jordanian one claims to renounce Jihadism. Is it for real or is it Taquiya? If the Muslim Brotherhood is backing the King and the Islamic State is planning to invade, is this a conflict between Islamist forces or is something else going on?

    How many oppositions are there? Is removing the King a recipe for another Syria?

    The article raises more questions than it answers.

  13. xxx

    Yes, all the good attributes are quickly seen, but at the end, the situation is still not good for Israel as a sovereign Jewish State. The writer states unequivocally, that he/they would NEVER agree to the YESHA Arabs. who are actually just illegal interlopers, “being deported to Amman”, which destroys the concept of the “Jewish State” Look how the Bedouin are so quickly overflowing the Negev and straining the facilities to breaking point. With multiple wives, it’s no conjuring trick to have a 5% birth rate…..

    {( The Black “Hebrews” about 40 years ago started off by their leader and 30 companions coming to Israel for a “vacation” …..and refused to leave, and then they began to trickle in until few hundred had arrived…and STAYED, alleging “racism” when they were being set to be deported/ I lived there at the time and the cowardly Govt, whilst not accepting them as Jews, gave up trying to deport them. are now in their thousands with multiple “wives”….. A solution would be to try to instigate a war between the Bedouin and the Blacks……. That might solve the problem… But, where is the Machiavelli who might be able to plan it. Neither group has any right to be in Israel at all)}.

    A Jewish State made up of 6 million Jews and 5 million Arabs (and rising quickly) is no Jewish State at all, what has been the vision for hundreds of years is a state almost completely peopled by Jews..in their own Land.