By Ted Belman (Mar 1919)
The Jordan Option, as articulated by me and Mudar Zahran, the Secretary General of the Jordan Opposition Coalition, anticipates that King Abdullah will abdicate, willingly or otherwise, and that Mudar Zahran will take over Jordan as its leader.
Dr Mudar Zahran is very open as to what his intentions are once in power.
- He wants to cooperate with Israel rather than confront Israel
- Jordan will uphold its own Citizenship Act of 1952 which grants everyone who has lived in Palestine while under the Hashemite rule, and their descendants, an automatic citizenship
- Jordan will allow all Palestinians, living elsewhere, to emigrate to Jordan.
- Jordan will replace UNRWA as the provider of services to all Palestinian refugees of which 2 million live west of the Jordan River
- Jordan will invite the said two million refugees to emigrate to Jordan to receive the said services which include social security, healthcare and education.
- Jordan will build a new city to house 1 million emigrants. It will be built by the emigrants. All emigrants will receive a new house free of charge. The estimated cost of each house if $30,000.
- The Peace Treaty between Jordan and Israel will be reaffirmed as will the Jordan River be reaffirmed as the international boundary.
- The Palestinian textbooks will be rewritten by a joint task force to reflect in the main the Jewish narrative with appropriate nods to the Arab perspective. These new text books will be studied by all Palestinians in Jordan or Israel.
- Jordan will join the Abraham Accords.
This new reality will affect Israel in the following way;
- The Palestinians living west of the River will no longer be stateless. They will be Jordanian citizens living in Israel as foreign residents.
- Thus, Israel will be able to extend its sovereignty over the entire area without the need to grant citizenship to the Palestinians living west of the River. The reason this is so is because when you annex land or claim sovereignty over land, there is no law which obligates you to grant citizenship to citizens of foreign countries who may live there.
- Israel will extradite all Palestinian prisoners to Jordan and Jordan will accept them.
- These Jordanian/Palestinians will be entitled to live in Area A and B as delineated by the Oslo Accords, as foreign residents with full autonomy just as they do now.
- Over the next few years Jordan will replace the PA as the administrator of these areas and the PA will wither away.
- All Palestinians will be incentivized to emigrate to Jordan with funds provided by Israel, the Gulf States and the US as announced in the Bahrain Workshop
- The Oslo Accords will be subsumed in the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty.
- Gaza will be designated as another Area A. Hamas will be outlawed and Jordan will administer it.
The notion that both sides had more to gain by cooperating rather than confronting is what gave the Abraham Accords impetus and inspiration and is at the root of the Jordan Option.
Such a notion drove the short-lived Feisal/Weizmann Agreement of 1919. The essence of this agreement was that Palestine as it then was, was to be divided into two states, one for the Arabs and one for the Jews. Chaim Weizmann, on behalf of the Jews, agreed to help develop the Arab state and King Feisal agreed to welcome Jewish settlement in the Jewish state and favored friendly cooperative relations.
The Jordan Option, when implemented, will prove to be the biggest game-changer since the Six Day War.
My point before getting timed out, is that if WE can’t even rely on the UN to do the right thing, how can we rely on “Arabs”?
@ Edgar G.:
I agree that the Mandate only protects the “Civil & Religious Liberties” of the non-Jewish population and that it was a major failure by the Jews to give the “Arabs” voting rights:
“…it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country;…”
Afterall, the Arabs were quick to violate our civil & religious rights having exiled us or worse murdered us with our assets frozen.
Where is the Global outcry for our “Right of Return” or reparations. Instead, all you hear are lies about the contents of UNRes 194 (even Wikipedia has it summarized incorrectly). It NEVER called for ALL the Arabs misplaced (voluntarily I shud add) to be given the right to return.
What country wud?
And where was the UN then?
Where is the UN today when Hizballah points 1000s of rockets at us from behind civilians in violation of UNSC Res. 1701 and the Geneva Convention ; or when Hamas fires rockets at us from behind civilians and civilian infrastructure , also a double war crime in violation of Geneva IV or Assad gases his people or Turkey slaughters Kurdish civilians (FYI – I support Trumps position on this) or any number of insane contradictions?
Seems the UN only takes action when its against the only Democracy in the ME!
@ Edgar G.:
I am not trying to boost Peres (Noooooooo!!!!).
My point is just that I believe these leaders change in their latter years and that the Arab speaking peoples have no interest in peace with Israel, let alone themselves.
AND While as you say, “It could have been anyone”, it wasn’t. It was Peres who obtained the Nukes and invaded Suez.
Just as it was Sharon (the Lion” who relinquished Jewish land to the “Arabs”, forcibly removing Jews from their homes.
I agree, the French had other interests, such as did the British to prevent the loss of Suez.
However, early on, under Peres Israel achieved good things just as it did under Ben Gurion (Would Jabotinsky been better, probably).
@ Edgar G.:
Yes. I am aware that the Mandate only required giving the “Arabs” civil & religious rights.
” …it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country;…”
And while as you say, the “Socialist Gang” violated this precept (and bent over backwards to accommodate the “Arabs” & gave them voting rights), the “Arabs” had no problem violating Jewish civil, religious and political rights and attacked us or kicked us out of their countries while stealing our assets.
Where was the UN then?
Where is it today, when Hizballah has rockets aimed at us (from civilian locations) in violation of UNSC Res. 1701, Iran is trying to ship rockets into Lebanon and to gain foothold in Syria; Hamas is provoking war with Israel while committing double war crimes and starving the people of Gaza, Assad is gassing his people, Turkey is slaughtering Kurds (FYI – I support Trumps moves), etc…..
It seems the UN only acts when its against the only Democracy in the Middle East.
Go figure (or not)!
@ Noah:
I thoroughly agree with you that the Arabs, all Jordanian citizens, should have NO right of domicile in Israel. After all an Israeli can’t even buy a plot of land in Jordan without the seller being executed.. The UN ignores this monstrosity-as do all countries which have relations with Jordan. .. Israel, via the Socialist gang that was in charge, went directly against the Balfour Declaration, League of Nations, The Mandate, and all agreements…every one of which, the Declaration was a specific part. You will know that it granted the Arabs civil and religious freedom, but expressly omitted the political franchise.
The written notes on the margin by Emir Feisal, accepted and agreed to all the contents.
@ Noah:
Nobody knows better than I that “the Arabs can’t be trusted”…and I’m sure he meant that…but it didn’t stop him from sneaking overseas to make a deal OF TRUST, to bring that monster Arafat and 10,000 slaughterers ..etc.etc I’ve said that already.
And please note…PLEASE, that the amount of terrorism that emanates from those areas you mention, is miniscule by comparison to what it was. Israel has it under control, but has more important matters to deal with, on an ongoing basis. There’s never a lack of something of great impact going on, which needs immediate attention.
If, for any reason, after Zahran, terrorism from Jordan became the “dish of the day”, Israel would and would crush it with REAL force. You know that anyway.
What Peres did when younger, with the French, could have, and would have been done by anyone. It just happened to be Peres, a French speaker, who also was Defence Minister at the time, and a very close buddy of Ben Gurion, a part of the Mafia Gang which ran tiny Israel then. , . And he didn’t do it alone, or as his own idea. The “nuke” suggestion came “unofficially” from the French, who, at that time, were VERY supportive of Israel for their own political reasons, which really had nothing to do with Israel per se.
I don’t know how “MY” 50/50 comes to be “teetering”. Those 3 agreements have no bearing on that point that Peres was making. It’s of no importance anyway.There have been many other agreements, not as major -but agreements, as well as many unofficial and “understood” positions. What about all the agreements with Arafat and Abbas and others. What about those with Husseini…Samuel’s great blunder.
I see no point in what you write. I know about everything you say, and more. So there’s no need for us to argue about nuances. You are “boosting” Peres, whilst I think he should have been hanged from the nearest lamp-post for what he brought down on our suffering People….. We can agree to differ.
@ Edgar G.:
I am very familiar with the history and the manner in which Peres as Rabin’s Foreign Minister brokered the disastrous Oslo Accords I , which brought terrorist Arafat from Tunisia to Gaza, etc.
However, most of these Israeli leaders started out as staunch defenders of the country only to change over time. Don’t forget, it was Peres who obtained the Mirage & Nukes from the French and who invaded Suez in 1956.
Peres is not alone in reverting to the mean. There is a long list of whom I consider once great warriors who later became sell-outs , such as Barak, Sharon, Olmert, etc. The latter two came from Likud. Sharon pulled out of Gaza & portions of J&S while Olmert tried to give away the entire country & managed to lose an easy war to Hizballah which set it up as the de facto rulers of Lebanon.
My point is that most of these leaders and the public in general knows that an Arab cannot be trusted, that an agreement with them is not worth the paper it written on and that they are ready to wait millennia to destroy us if required.
There have only been a few major agreements such as :
1) Egypt – which has held thus far although was at risk when Morsi held power and is still not favored by the Egyptian public,
2) Jordan – Which the “King” denounces every day and which the Parliament and public at large are against ; and
3) Oslo I & Oslo II – both of which were clearly violated by the Palestinians (Never really had a chance).
So clearly your 50/50 is teetering on the brink.
My point is that, an agreement with Mudar Zahran today may hold TODAY. But, what is to ensure it holds forever?
Especially, among a very hostile irredentist population in Jordan and among the “Palestinians”.
I can’t help forget that ” there came into Egypt a Pharaoh who did not know “.
Hence, relying on the goodwill and grace of others has significant risks, no?
@ Noah:
Peres was the main mover in secretly dealing with the Terrorists in a country abroad. The deal brought to Israel Arafat, and 10-12,000 bloodthirsty Jew-haters, who hd been withering away, thousands of miles from Israel, gave them free, large land areas, which belonged to the Jewish people, money, weapons, International STATUS, training and much much more. Which they promptly used to murder and maim many thousands of innocent Jews. We have the relics of this disaster still operating in YESHA today.
That was Peres, a traitor who should have been executed for his unforgivable crimes, along with his cabal., If he said what you say, or felt as you say he did, it was purely for political consumption. He was thoroughly slimy, dishonest, and deserved none of the money and position that came to him later in life. Just Imagine it.. the State paid out multi-millions of dollars for just one of his birthday parties.
As for Arab mobs, it might be that Israel would have to teach them a SHARP lesson, and they would then settle down to the same sort of theatrical nonsense entitled…. “Friday Night At The Gaza Fence”… from 7-9 p.m. performed weekly.
But I have far more confidence in Ted’s doings, and the facts that he and Mudar have gone into this vital matter as if it IS a vital matter. So deeply as to have long-ago already, lined up manufacturers of pre-fab apartment blocks, and costed them out, roads, sewerage, Community buildings, green spaces, upkeep, and etc. erected on sites, ready to live in. (I may have added in “green spaces and upkeep”)
@ Noah:
In my opinion, the “Jordanian Option” should be that the “Palestinians” in Israel ALL receive Jordanian citizenship and have no right to be in Israel.
However, Israel can decide on a case-by-case basis which, if any, New Jordanians / “Palestinians” to which it grants work visas.
There will be no Autonomous self-governing “Palestinian” / Arab or whatever you may wish to call them regions inside Israel (where in the Arab – I use this term to refer to Arabic speaking not ethnicity which doesn’t exist – countries were the Autonomous self-governing Jewish areas?).
Israeli law will be the law of the land (if an Arab kills a Jew, they get an appropriate punishment, not an education and improved dietary plan with perks paid for by the tax payer until the next exchange).
@ Edgar G.:
P.S.
At the future point at which Jordan left an “unruly mod” in our midst , that mob would not be circa 2mn pple. it would be much larger both from within (natural growth) and without (importing terrorists)!
@ Edgar G.:
Right now, we have control of the borders of Israel, yet there is no shortage of Arab terrorism from within their AUTONOMOUS areas as granted to them by Oslo.
What is to prevent a future ruler of Jordan, be it a descendant of Mudar Zahran, a Bedouin, a “Palestinian” or ISIS ruler, from assisting the “Palestinians” in these Jordanian controlled “Autonomous Zones” in Israel with terrorism or attacks or from Jordan exiting its commitments thereby leaving an “unruly mod” in our midst (Like the one we have now)?
I can’t think of any other country in the history of the world, except maybe Thailand, that has voluntary entrusted its sovereignty & security to another country.
Albeit a country like Jordan
1) with a population openly hostile Israel and Jews in general (including the majority of its Parliament) ,
2) has a history of attacking us, and
3) has praised and supported terrorists who murdered our school girls and other acts and continues a propaganda war against us , as recently as this week when its King said “Israel is the cause of the problems in the Middle East” & denied us access to border lands that actually are ours.
Whether or not point #3 above is true or just a King trying to maintain power, its a good indication of Jordanian sentiment which is clearly anti-Israel.
PERES
As for Peres, I was being sarcastic when I quoted it. BUT, you shud have no doubt that he meant the Arabs can’t be trusted (PERIOD).
Its part of their religion (take what you can now, regroup and attack). They have been doing it to us since the formation of their religion.
AND, there is ample evidence today that they can’t be trusted at all and their handshake, signature or whatever is meaningless.
Only actions matter.
@ Noah:
You are forgetting about Israel. No matter whom is ruling Jordan, even friendly, Israel will always have military control of the whole area. Jordan would not dare initiate a conflict, under whatever pretext.
@ Noah:
I think Peres must have been Uiberbottelt, -or shiker-when he made that comment. It soeasn’t mean what you think it means, …for example,
The Arabs made 100 agreements, they kept 50 and broke 50…
Peres should have said” that the number of agreements the Arabs violated is no less than the number they have MADE… Unless he actually DID say that, and your memory is at fault..
@ Ted Belman:
I am not questioning your judgement nor your relationship with him.
I was not so much referring just to him, but to those who follow.
I trust Mudar Zahran not to betray me nor the deal set out in this post. We have planned this for 8 years. He has never lied to me.
@ Ted Belman:
This sounds like relying on the “Word of the Arab” which as we all know isn’t worth the paper on which it was written.
In fact, to this point in another great piece by Martin Sherman which you posted today, he quotes Shimon Peres who “dismissed the value of any agreement signed with the Arabs, writing: ‘The major issue is not [attaining] an agreement, but ensuring the actual implementation of the agreement in practice. The number of agreements which the Arabs have violated is no less than number which they have kept'”.
How can we leave the security of the Jews in the hands of an agreement with these same Arabs?
@ Noah:
That question has been looked into. Zahran comes from a large clan. When he dies he will be replaced by his son or someone else from the clan..
In addition, there will be major incentives to induce the Palestinians to move to Jordan or elsewhere.
@ Ted Belman:
I like the Jordanian Option in Theory (and am even willing to assume that as you say Zahran keeps power).
BUT, what happens when he is gone to natural causes, especially regarding the following parts of the Plan?
1. These Jordanian/Palestinians will be entitled to live in Area A and B as foreign residents with full autonomy just as they do now.
2. Over the next few years Jordan will replace the PA as the adminitrator of these areas and the PA will whither away.
Need we not remember the old prophecy that “there came into Egypt a Pharaoh who did not know” and might it apply in the future to Jordan?
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
If you want to discuss Gantz’s policies or lack of clarity on them in Judea/Samaria that is valid discussion.
Writing late at night, I somehow failed to get the order of my paragraphs correct when I posted my comments about Gantz last night. I Below, I have done my best to put my paragraphs in the correct order.
@ Bear Klein:Bear, Gantz does indeed have a close relationship to the Arab parties. This was revealed by Joint List leader Ayman Odeh, who described how at Gantz’s request he persuaded the Balad party to withdraw its previous recommendation to support Gantz, because Gantz wanted to reduce the MKs supporting him by a few MKs, as a maneuver to insure that Bibi had one more recommendation than him (Gantz) in order to ensure that president Rivlin would ask Bibi first to try to form a government. Since Gantz was convinced that Bibi would fail to form a government, this would give Gantz more time to insure that he could round up the necessary 61 votes to form a government. Odeh and Balad’s involvement in such a complex maneuver by Gantz certainly shows an intimate collaboration.
Also revealing the politically intimate nature of the Gantz-Joint List relationship is that Odeh was the very first politician from another party that Gantz contacted after the election. And he contacted him only a few hours after the preliminary results came in. Third, Odeh gave a whole series of individuals both shortly before and after the election that express his confidence that the Joint List would have considerable influence on government policy once Bibi was defeated. He also vowed that the Joint List’s endorsement of Blue-White and Gantz was “unconditional.” He persuaded Balad to support Gantz as well at a joint meeting of the leadership of the Joint List parties a few days after the election. This was a day or so before Odeh changed his mind, at Gantz’s request, and asked Balad to withdraw his recommendation. Balad complied with this changed plan. The involvement of all the Joint List parties in this complex and devious maneuvering by Gantz proves his close relationship with them.
Tight lipped Gantz has not denied any of this in so many words.
As for the claim that having fought the terrorists all his life, Gantz is incapable of collaborating with their sympathizers, we should consider the case of France’s Marshall Petain. No one denies that Petain fought the Germans heroically throughout World War I. He was the iron man of Verdun. Yet he collaborated with the German occupiers during World War II. He hadn’t lost his love for France. But the changed situation led him to conclude that the best way he could protect France was by cooperating with the German occupation.
Indeed, Petain had far better grounds as a French patriot for collaborating with the German occupiers than Gantz and all the other Israeli-Jewish leftists have for appeasing the PLO and Hamas. After all the Germans already had France in their grip when they defeated and occupied it in 1940. By agreeing to collaborate, Petain hoped to spare the French people even harsher punishment from the occupation authorities He also hoped to spare the thousands of French prisoners of war whom the Nazis were holding hostag from mass German reprisals.
And perhaps he succeeded in these goals. The French got off with far less
loss of life than the Poles, who resisted the Germans tooth and nail, and nearly two million Polish deaths doing so (excluding the three million murdered Polish Jews from this count).
By way of contrast, it is impossible to see how any Israeli lives could be saved by the the INSS’s, other leftist organizations”, and Gantz and Ashkenazi’s plans for unilateral withdrawal from central Judea-Samaria. Quite the reverse–many, many Jewish lives, and many Arab lives as well, will be lost if these plans are carried out.
Odeh head of the Arab Joint List said the following:
So 10 of the 13 on the Arab Joint List recommended Gantz not because they are close or have agreed on anything except for ONE THING they DO NOT want Bibi as Prime Minister.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Do you believe what you write? Or is it only done for effect? I certainly think what you are writing is just one falsehood on top of another to justify your erroneous position that the Arab Joint List was joining the government.
I am no fan of Gantz but you calling him a traitor, etc., etc. is simply to put it mildly is wrong. No matter who much you write or how many false analogies you make. Then as I said before I knew not the words you would write but the reaction is always something dramatic. The words I used I believe was the “sky was falling”. That is your predominate theme.
Gantz is NOT in league with enemy Arabs. He has positions that right-wingers like myself do not agree with but he is not part of the enemy.
@ Bear Klein:Bear, Gantz does indeed have a close relationship to the Arab parties. This was revealed by Joint List leader Ayman Odeh, who described how at Gantz’s request he persuaded the Balad party to withdraw its previous recommendation to support Gantz, because Gantz wanted to reduce the MKs supporting him by a few MKs, as a maneuver to insure that Bibi had one more recommendation than him (Gantz) in order to ensure that president Rivlin would ask Bibi first to try to form a government. Since Gantz was convinced that Bibi would fail to form a government, this would give Gantz more time to insure that he could round up the necessary 61 votes to form a government. Odeh and Balad’s involvement in such a complex maneuver by Gantz certainly shows an intimate collaboration.
As for the claim that having fought the terrorists all his life, Gantz is incapable of collaborating with their sympathizers, we should consider the case of France’s Marshall Petain. No one denies that Petain fought the Germans heroically throughout World War I. He was the iron man of Verdun. Yet he collaborated with the German occupiers during World War II. He hadn’t lost his love for France. But the changed situation led him to conclude that the best way he could protect France was by cooperating with the German occupation.
Also revealing the politically intimate nature of the Gantz-Joint List relationship is that Odeh was the very first politician from another party that Gantz contacted after the election. And he contacted him only a few hours after the preliminary results came in. Third, Odeh gave a whole series of individuals both shortly before and after the election that express his confidence that the Joint List would have considerable influence on government policy once Bibi was defeated. He also vowed that the Joint List’s endorsement of Blue-White and Gantz was “unconditional.” He persuaded Balad to support Gantz as well at a joint meeting of the leadership of the Joint List parties a few days after the election. This was a day or so before Odeh changed his mind, at Gantz’s request, and asked Balad to withdraw his recommendation. Balad complied with this changed plan. The involvement of all the Joint List parties in this complex and devious maneuvering by Gantz proves his close relationship with them.
Tight lipped Gantz has not denied any of this in so many words.
As for the claim that having fought the terrorists all his life, Gantz is incapable of collaborating with their sympathizers, we should consider the case of France’s Marshall Petain. No one denies that Petain fought the Germans heroically throughout World War I. He was the iron man of Verdun. Yet he collaborated with the German occupiers during World War II. He hadn’t lost his love for France. But the changed situation led him to conclude that the best way he could protect France was by cooperating with the German occupation.
@ Bear Klein:Bear, Gantz does indeed have a close relationship to the Arab parties. This was revealed by Joint List leader Ayman Odeh, who described how at Gantz’s request he persuaded the Balad party to withdraw its previous recommendation to support Gantz, because Gantz wanted to reduce the MKs supporting him by a few MKs, as a maneuver to insure that Bibi had one more recommendation than him (Gantz) in order to ensure that president Rivlin would ask Bibi first to try to form a government. Since Gantz was convinced that Bibi would fail to form a government, this would give Gantz more time to insure that he could round up the necessary 61 votes to form a government. Odeh and Balad’s involvement in such a complex maneuver by Gantz certainly shows an intimate collaboration.
As for the claim that having fought the terrorists all his life, Gantz is incapable of collaborating with their sympathizers, we should consider the case of France’s Marshall Petain. No one denies that Petain fought the Germans heroically throughout World War I. He was the iron man of Verdun. Yet he collaborated with the German occupiers during World War II. He hadn’t lost his love for France. But the changed situation led him to conclude that the best way he could protect France was by cooperating with the German occupation.
Also revealing the politically intimate nature of the Gantz-Joint List relationship is that Odeh was the very first politician from another party that Gantz contacted after the election. And he contacted him only a few hours after the preliminary results came in. Third, Odeh gave a whole series of individuals both shortly before and after the election that express his confidence that the Joint List would have considerable influence on government policy once Bibi was defeated. He also vowed that the Joint List’s endorsement of Blue-White and Gantz was “unconditional.” He persuaded Balad to support Gantz as well at a joint meeting of the leadership of the Joint List parties a few days after the election. This was a day or so before Odeh changed his mind, at Gantz’s request, and asked Balad to withdraw his recommendation. Balad complied with this changed plan. The involvement of all the Joint List parties in this complex and devious maneuvering by Gantz proves his close relationship with them.
Tight lipped Gantz has not denied any of this in so many words.
@ roamnrab:
We don’t expect Israel to aid the coup nor to stop it. We are not even going to ask them. Same for the PA and PLO.
If Trump accepts the coup and tells Israel to, neither Bibi nor Gantz will defy him.Bear Klein Said:
Once Mudar is installed in office, he will ban the MB just as Al Sisi and MBS did. They won’t present any problem because they will be on the run. Anyone else who tries to mess with Mudar will be ruthlessly put down. I am not at all concerned.
A and B need to be vacated of Arabs. They are the sort that needs physical and preferably geographic markers delineating Jewish borders. Jordan River and Dead Sea are good delineates. Anything else is dangerous. Proof? The Wall!!!! Too bad there is no proper propaganda embossed into the concrete, like the emblems of our Tribes facing the Arabs. They post their views, but Israel does nothing. Foolish error.
@ roamnrab:To put it clearly if a former career serviceman who fought terrorists all his life is NOT Adam’s cup of tea smearing them is okay.
I am not a supporter of Gantz or Blue/White but Adam has called him a traitor before. He is basically a hysterical voice on Israpundit.
Gantz does not support the terrorists or the Arab parties. This is not an obstacle to Adam.
Adam Dalgliesh Said:
Ted,
Please address THIS item.
The recent Atlantic Council article criticizing Abdullah and documenting the increasing unpopularity of his regime is significant, because the Atlantic Council is very much an “establishment” European and American think tank. Its publication marks the first time that the Western European and American foreign policy establishments have begun to tire of Abdullah.
But a few notes of caution. The issues that I mentioned in my August 15 comments are still relevant.
The teacher’s strike and the mass demonstrations held by the teachers certainly demonstrate the widespread discontent with the government. But the strikers have focused fairly narrowly on 1) traditional trade union issues, such as the inadequate wages they are paid, and 2) the need to substantially upgrade, modernize improve the quality of the Jordanian educational system at all levels. This requires, among many other things, much enhanced funding for the entire system.
But while tthe teachers are openly critical of the government’s department of Education, the current Minister of Education, as well as corruption and incompetence in the government as a whole, they have refrained from open, personal attacks on the King.
More militants demonstrators are also back on the streets, especially in the Southwestern city of Zarqa , where Abdullah has never been popular and his control is weaker, demanding his removal or even death. But while the videos of the Zarqa demonstrations on Mudar’s website show the crowds to be ebullient and unafraid, they are much smaller than the teacher’s demonstrations. There haven’t been many “militant” openly anti-Abdullah demonstrations in or near Amman area in the last few months. The attendees at such demonstrations have been very small, not enough to describe them as a crowd–understandibly, because the police monitor these demonstrations, and calling for the King’s death is a criminal offense.
As in th east, the crwds do not chant Mudar Zahran’s name, or the names of the various organizations led by Mudar. This confirms that the opposition has still not decided on a leader. I believe the opposition is indeed a coalition of various groups, not a monolithic bloc with a unified organization. The oppositionists may have several leaders, and have yet to unify around one.
Nor is there any evidence that the majority of oppositionists support the Jordan Option.
But the worst obstacle to the Jordan Option is that Benny Gantz, who will almost certainly be Israel’s next prime Minister, will never support it. This is because of his very close relationship with Israel’s pro-PLO and pro-Hamas parties, who are of course 1,000 per cent opposed to this option.
It appears the Shin Bet did not allow Zahran into Israel recently.
It appears Israeli government is distancing themselves from Mudar Zahran.
The Jordan Option (as presented by Ted) may sound good in theory but dubious if it can ever get off the ground. In the unlikely event it gets off the ground it is likely Zahran gets booted and radicals such as the Muslim Brotherhood take over Jordan or it breaks into pieces. The Iranians will certainly try and take advantage if there is weakness.
Seems Zahran has lots of ideas eg healthcare, social services, education etc. but wheres the dosh comming from?
Possible oil, natural gas exports? continue to be the food basket of the middle East
Ho hum the yellow brick road looks more promising.
I think this quote about Muslims is very apt and indeed has been proven to be accurate. The “doers” and the “enablers”….
“The militant Muslim is the one who cuts off the victim’s head, the moderate one is the one who holds his feet.”……!!
@ Yidith:
YIDITH– Adriaan Reland, the world famed Cartographer, philologist and Semitic Scholar, who held the permanent seat in Semitics, Jewish Antiquities, and Oriental languages at Utrecht Univ., had a census taken of every town and village mentioned in the Mishneh and Talmud, and identifying the origin of his information-if in Hebrew or Aramaic, he gave the description and details in those languages , if in Greek, he wrote it in Greek, if in Latin he detailed iI in Latin, and so on …. over 2500 in all. He stated that there were NO Arabs in Israel at that period, which was 1696-7. There were a few nomadic Bedouins, and a single Arab extended family, named Natcha in Shechem, numbering less than 120. Every person was counted. ..
The vast majority of the population were Jews, next Samaritans, then a small number of Christians. He even detailed the occupations of the varied inhabitants, and named families. His reputation for using only the most exact and scrupulous information, and documentation was unrivalled. .. The 400th anniversary of his death was held at the University in Utrecht for a month long sequence of lectures on his life, his mastery, publications and etc, last Feb. I actually contacted the University and had much correspondence with learned professors, experts on every detail of nd in his life almost from birth. The one which contains the information above, was named “Palaestina ex Monumentis Veteribus Illustrata”.,Pub.1714.
You should look him up, He was undoubtedly a prodigy and polymath with astounding qualifications and achievements..
Thanks Ted. May Ha Shem grant the Jordanian option as soon as imaginable…L’Shana Tova
@ greenrobot:
It was the case in ’67. But Israel declined to annex the land for many reasons. Instead she accepted Res 242 which contemplated israel withdrawing from most of the conquered land,
In 1949 it was different. Israel automatically included conquered land lying outside the borders granted in the Partition Plan, as part of Israel. This was pursuant to “Ben Gurion’s Law”. And by the way she granted citizenship to the Arabs living there. Perhaps because they weren’t yet citizens of Jordan.
This law was not followed in ’67 but should have been.
Also in ’67 no one raided the issue of citizenship should the land be annexed. I don’t recall it as part of the discussion.
But now that I and others am claiming our right to annex, I am making as big an issue as I can of the fact that the Palestinians will be citizens of Jordan.
Another formidable obstacle to Mudar’ Zahran’s hope of achieving a position of leadership in Jordan, and thereby being able to implement the Jordanian Option, is the apparent success Abdullah’s regime has had in branding him as a supporter of israel. For more than seventy years, both Palestinians and Jordanians have been brainwashed by the media, the schools and the msques in both Jordan and the “?alestinian territories” to hate Israel and see it as their enemy. Jordan’s kings have done nothing to discourage this process. The identification of Zahran’s Israeli supporters ,
and the fact that the conference on the Jordan Option, which Zahran addressed through a video hookup with London, was held in Israel, has been used to blacken his name in Jordan. Many Jordanian citizens of Palestinian, Syrian and or Iraqi origin are probably unwilling to support anyone whom they beleive to be pro-Israel , even if they agree to the rest of his program.
For a while, Zahran sought to deal with this problem by soft-pedaling his tis to Israel on his blogsite. But since Abdullah’s crackdown began on JUne 9, he has become open about his support for Israel in his blog posts. He has republished several articles from the Israeli press, has published selections of articles he wrote for Israeli publications, and has published a sympathetic video of a British Muslim politician who visited the Western Wall and prayed there in the company of several rabbis. He has even shown a video of an Israeli Arab folk singer praising him (Zahran) in a song! (A very charming song, both words and music).
Perhaps he has decided that his pro-Israel views can not do him any harm in Jordan, because those Jordanians who hate Israel will never support him in any case, while those Jordanians who want a better relationship with Israel–of whom there are some–will be encouraged to support him. He may also have decided that the number of Jordanians favoring detente with Israel will grow in time, now that some Arab states have begun to soften their hostility to Israel, and as the value of Israeli assistance becomes clear to a growing number of Jordanians. But that development will inevitably take a long time to materialize. There are no quick fixes or magical solutions in this world. The impossible always takes longer.
The power of the Muslim Brotherhood imay be another reaon why many Jordanians fear that Abdullah’s departure might make things worse for them. Although the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliate, Hamas, have a cordial relationship with Abdullah, and he raises no objections to the substantial sums of money sent to the Jordanian brach of the Brotherhood by Abdullah’s ally Qatar, he has kept them at arms length to some extent. According to some sources, Abdullah has not appointed Brotherhood members to any senior executive positions in his government, and there are no Brotherhood members in his inner circle. But since the Brotherhood is legal in Jordan and controls numerous labor unions, professional associations, youth groups, etc., many Jordanians worry that Abdullah’s fall may lead to a complete Brotherhood-Hamas takeover of Jordan. And that would mean war with Israel, and a possible end to the desperately needed foreign aid to Jordan.
Again, the repeated petering out of the massive protests against Abdullah every time he waits them out and lets them run their course, is probably connected to Jordanians’ fears about whomighttake over when Abdullah falls.
@ greenrobot:so that the day after the 67 war, Israel was not obligated to give citizenship and could have claimed sovereignty at the end of the 6 day war on the following day and not waited 52 years.?
@ Ted Belman: You
answered the second question and not the first..The question…How was it that this was not the case in 1967 before the war?
The Jordan Option is extremely improbable for several reasons. One is that Abdullah is a survivor. He ihas been extremely unpopular in Jordan ever since he ascended the throne following the death of his father Hussein in 2002. When he succeeded to throne, mass protest demonstrations erupted. Every few years, there has been another round of protest demonstrations and demands for his abdication. Yet each time, the demonstrations die down after a while, and Abdullah is still king. The protests of 2018-19 seem to be following this pattern. Abdullah is something of a wizard of survival. One of his trump cards (no pun intended) is the fear that there will be complete chaoes, a desperate power struggle to succeed him, foreign invasions, etc. Many Jordanians are afraid of this. Abdullah seems adept at persuading his people that there is no viable alternative to him, no matter how intensely they dislike and distrust him.
A bit too good to be true against a backdrop of a lifetime’s education in bigotry and the consequent grass roots foot dragging.
Is he also going to change the name of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to Palestinian Republic on the Jordan?
There is no ‘Jordan option’. Jordan is a river, and ‘Trans-Jordan’ is as much a creation of fantasy as ‘Palestine’ is. Both sides of the River Jordan are historical homeland of Am Yisrael. Most citizens of ‘Jordan’ are in fact immigrants from elsewhere, and will need to go back to those countries. Bedouin tribes would be allowed to stay under conditions
Asfore the sodomites wishing to remain in Israel they should require something similar to u s green card, renewable every so many years, if guilty of a federal offence ‘ta ta’ nice knowing you, be off.
There are other Sovereignty options which don’t include ousting neighboring Royal Families or leaving a million terrorists in the heart of Israel. There are some Arab clans which have lived on their land for hundreds of years- those deserve Israeli citizenship as long as they are not antagonistic to the Jewish State. All PLO/Fatah/Islamic Jihad etc. followers must be expelled. The obvious choice is not Jordan, who kicked them out in 1970, instead it should be their boss, i.e. Iran!! Mass expulsions have worked in the past and will work in this case as well as long as the place the terrorists are sent to is responsible for the terror. (Jordan isn’t)
Re the peace treaty being reaffirmed . I would like to see changes to T M also an area of say 25 miles/kilometers east of the river in width that holds holy sites eg:Ahron the Kohens site, Moshe location be part of Israel as in the LofN partition.
@ greenrobot:
When Jordan illegally accupied the West Bank for 19 years, all Arabs living there were Jordanian citizens.
Ted, from your note above…
“Thus, Israel will be able to extend its sovereignty over the entire area without the need to grant citizenship to the Palestinians living west of the River. The reason this is so is because when you annex land or claim sovereignty over it, there is no law which obligates you to grant citizenship to citizens of foreign countries who may live there.”
The question…How was it that this was not the case in 1967 before the war? It was Jordan before Israel. Were the residents Jordanian?
@ Michael Maguire:
We are expecting all kinds of resistance. We will subdue it with force.
“Over the next few years Jordan will replace the PA as the adminitrator of these areas and the PA will whither away.”
And the West Bank mafia will just accept the disappearance of the International financial largess that has turned them all into multiple millionaires since 1994? I trow they will be sad!