T. Belman. That is why the King must go and be replaced by Mudar Zahran.
Extending Israel sovereignty to the Jordan River depends on it.
King assesses Netanyahu’s pledge for Jordan Valley as ‘electioneering,’ warns one-state solution with different laws for Jews would be ‘apartheid’
By TOI STAFF
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, during the former’s surprise visit to Amman on January 16, 2014 (AP/Yousef Allan/Jordanian Royal Palace)
Jordan’s King Abdullah II says that any future Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank would have a “major impact” on Jerusalem’s ties with his country and Egypt, the only two Arab states with which Israel has peace treaties, and warned that a one-state solution would amount to “apartheid.”
After the new Israeli government is formed, “all of us, members of our region and the international community, will jump on board to say, ‘Can we focus back on the two-state solution?’” the Jordanian royal said in an MSNBC interview broadcast Monday.
“If it’s a one-state solution as you [the interviewer] alluded to, then we are talking about an apartheid future for Israel, which I think would be a catastrophe for all of us,” he said.
Asked about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement prior to the elections that he would annex parts of the West Bank, Abdullah said: “I take a pinch of salt with all electioneering.”
“But a statement like that does not help at all because what you do is hand over the narrative to the worst people in our neighborhood,” he said, referring to Netanyahu’s annexation pledge.
“And then, we that want peace tend to be more isolated. If the policy is to annex the West Bank, then that is going to have a major impact on the Israeli-Jordanian relationship and also on the Egyptian-Israeli relationship, because we are the two only Arab countries that have peace with Israel.”
Abdullah added that if “a certain government” gets everything it wants without giving anything in return, that would jeopardize the prospect of a future in which the Israelis and Palestinians live in peace.
“If we are talking about an apartheid Israel with laws that are different for Jews and different for Christians and Muslims, that will continue to add fuel to the disruption in the Middle East.”
Netanyahu’s pledges to annex parts of the West Bank drew opprobrium, with critics saying that fulfilling those promises could deal a final blow to any hopes for a two-state solution to the conflict.
The prime minister said he would annex the Jordan Valley, “all the settlements” in the West Bank, the Jewish enclaves in Hebron and other unspecified “vital” areas.
Critics contend that Netanyahu’s pledges, if carried out, would inflame the Middle East and eliminate any remaining Palestinian hope of establishing a separate state. His political rivals have dismissed his talk of annexation as an election ploy, noting that he has refrained from annexing any territory during his more than a decade in power.
Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron and Abdullah said they “shared concern” over Netanyahu’s plans and reiterated their position that “there is no alternative to a two-state solution.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to cancel any existing agreements with Israel if it goes ahead with the move, and Amman has warned that extending sovereignty would kill the already moribund peace process and could affect the peace treaty between the countries.
The prospect of keeping control of the Jordan Valley enjoys wide backing in Israel, where it is widely considered a key security asset because it provides a buffer zone against potential attacks from the east.
Palestinians, however, say there can be no independent state that doesn’t control the border. With annexation they would lose a fertile area, which is home to many Palestinian farms and is one of the few remaining areas of the West Bank with open space for development.
Agencies contributed to this report.
@ Ted Belman:
So Mudar Zahran was kept out of Israel by Israel. That seems TRUE!
I SPECULATE Israel did NOT want to seem complicit in Zahran’s plot to over throw the King of Jordan. Possibly one of Israel’s other allies advised Zahran to be kept out of Israel.
Israel certainly can apply sovereignty to Area C and the Jordan Valley plus all settlements without having a mechanism for encouraging Arab emigration that is guaranteed to succeed. Certainly should not rely on foreigners to control its own land.
In the unlikely even the Jordan Option you describe does ever get off the ground there is also NO guarantee it will succeed. NO disrespect meant I know this is your baby but that is how it looks to most!
@ Bear Klein:
But the Israeli government hasn’t done it so far because they diedn’t know what to do with the Arabs. The Jordan Option provides a solution to that problem.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Just my sense of humour, sometimes needed on these pages.. I had a “gotcha” moment.. You know me well enough by now.
Did you her of the time when a Rabbi and Catholic priest were travelling in the same train carriage. When it came to a stop, the Rabbi got up and crossed himself….The priest was amazed and said “what’s this Rabbi, have you converted ..??” “Nah, of course not” he said, “Every time I leave a train, I always check to see if I have everything ..you know ..”spectacles………..”.. etc.
My very religious 2nd cousin told me this when I was 15, and on my first summer-long holiday in Cork, staying with an uncle and auntie.
@ Edgar G.: Edgar, of course I know that the 1967 lines are Armistice lines, not legal borders. I was describing Abdullah’s, Abbas’s, and the “Joint List”s positions and claims, certainly not mine. I also am well aware that Jordan is an “apartheid state,” antisemitic, and a dictatorship, and that its people are deeply dissatisfied with their government.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
AH AH….The 1967 lines are Armistice lines also…. NO BORDERS.
This overweight ex flyweight Jockey is fantasizing…..Israel being an “Apartheid State”…a huge NO NO in Arab circles where Israel is concerned…. Buut… what about his own “state”…Are any Jews allowed to live there, or buy land there without the seller having his head chopped off….? “legally” according to “law” straight from that sterling advertisemenr for Noble Man …Muham(zer)ed…….
Ted, Israel extending sovereignty to the Jordan River depends on the Israeli government not Mudar Zahran.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
The PLO will not be in the next government if there is a unity government HOWEVER, you are correct to be concerned that the Blue/White may not go along with applying Israeli civil law to Judea/Samaria. I believe this is something that would need to ironed out in a coalition agreement. I know Lapid is against this.
There is consensus in Israel for the Settlement Blocks and Jordan Valley so perhaps this could be agreed upon. I do not actually know. The negative that the right wing could NOT win a majority is that the opportune time for applying Israeli Civil Law to all the Settlements, Jordan Valley and other areas needed for security in Judea&Samaria is going to be squandered. Trump may not have a second term and if there is a Warren Administration it will not be friendly to Israel.
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Jordan-in-trouble-will-the-peace-deal-help-602636 This article in the Jerusalem Post by someone named Neville Teller, reporting on the current situation in Jordan, is worth reading. He confirms that Jordan is having a major political and economic crisis. He also thinks that while some Palestinians in Jordan may be tempted by the economic part of Trump’s “peace deal,” the “native” Transjordanians are hostile to it because they don’t want Jordan to be a Palestinian state.
Abdullah shouldn’t worry. With the PLO in Israel’s next government under Gantz, there will be no claim of Israeli sovereignty beyond the May 1967 borders, or even the 1949 armistice line.