T. Belman. Read this very carefully. Pompeo refers to a deal between two parties. He also said working closely with Jordan and the Jordanian people and a deal between Israelis and the Palestinian people (not the PA or PLO). This tells you almost everything you need to know.
Singer thinks Pompeo means he is working with the King. I don’t think so. The king is too problematic.
Trump – the master deal-maker – may have just pulled another rabbit out of his magic hat.
President Trump’s possibly soon-to-released proposal on resolving the Jewish-Arab conflict will be more readily achievable following the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) confirming it will not participate in implementing Trump’s peace plans.
Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat led the charge:
“No one will deceive us and we will not fall into the illusion that the United States can have any balanced ideas that could lyead to the achievement of a real and just peace. Washington has become part of the problem and not the solution”
PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas backed-up Erekat a few days later – censuring Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and stating Palestinians believe the US can no longer be the sole mediator in the decades-long conflict with Israel due to America’s pro-Tel Aviv bias.
Abbas declared Trump’s plan would be: “…an end to the peace process in the Middle East”.
Erekat and Abbas’s acts of political hara-kiri coincided with Trump’s newly-appointed Secretary of State – Mike Pompeo – visiting Jordan.
Jordanian Foreign Minister – Ayman Safadi – welcomed Pompeo with the decades-old Arab mantra:
“[The Palestinian -Israeli conflict] is, we believe, the main cause of instability in the region, and its resolution is the key to achieving the lasting and comprehensive peace that we want. The two-state solution remains the only path to that peace, as we believe in Jordan, and it is the solution that would allow for the emergence of an independent, sovereign Palestine state with East Jerusalem as its capital in the lines of June 4, 1967.
“Yes, that – the two-state solution is being challenged. Yes, there are many obstacles. But I think what is – what is the alternative? We cannot give up in our efforts to achieve peace, nor can we say that there is any viable alternative that we can sustain.”
Pompeo begged to disagree:
“ We’re certainly open to a two-party solution. That’s a likely outcome.”
Another likely outcome will doubtless be revealed in Trump’s proposal.
Pompeo deferred answering whether the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the most serious threat to stability in the region. He would have been derided had he agreed – given the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Libya.
On Trump’s ultimate deal – Pompeo asserted:
“We understand that ultimately this deal will be agreed to between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but certainly it’s the case that as America continues to be involved in facilitating such an arrangement, we’re doing so in close alignment with Jordan and the Jordanian people so that we’re working together …”
Any PLO refusal to agree to the deal will receive the Trump treatment meted out to Trump-defiers – reduced funding and diplomatic downgrading. Jordan – working in close alignment with Trump – will reap substantial dividends.
Pompeo referred to the five-year Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United States and Jordan in February committing the US to provide over $6.3 billion in bilateral foreign assistance to Jordan over the next five years – a powerful incentive for Jordan to help Trump bring his proposals to fruition.
Pompeo – significantly – provided two additional substantial sweeteners:
“We’ll continue to work with Jordan to help the Kingdom defend its borders, always.”
Pompeo was signaling that any PLO attempt to overthrow 95 years of unbroken Hashemite rule in Jordan – unsuccessfully attempted by the PLO in September 1970 – would be rebuffed by American military force.
Protecting the Hashemite regime and Jordan’s borders – coupled with massive injections of American financial aid – could see Jordan replacing the PLO as Israel’s Arab partner in implementing Trump’s peace proposals.
Trump – the master deal-maker – may have just pulled another rabbit out of his magic hat.
@ Edgar G.:
Yes, you are correct the reference to borders is from Iran or its allies, is what Jordan is being protected from.
@ Bear Klein:
Bear- According to this Singer article, with whose stuff you’ve found what I consider valid problems with, being on the other side of the world and insulated from day-to-day events, The Jordanians are sticking to the maximalist Arafat/Abbas demands, “67 “borders”, Jerusalem as capital, and all that drek, (even though it is not a border). , and this being the main obstacle against the “peace plan”. This ‘peace plan” hasn’t moved a step for 25 years, and in fact regressed to the degree that all remains is the alliterative title. There has never been peace, and their plan is to gobble up Israel.
****I am again bothered by the cordiality of the US towards the Jordanian machers, and I note that the US guarantees help to defend their “BORDERS”, and in the same sentence, mentions “the kingdom”…..****** That means Abdullah, because if he goes bye-bye as Ted predicts, (and which I’m hoping for) the anachronistic “kingdom” reference will be put to rest, probably for all time.Unless the US is playing a”triple” game here. Why have we heard nothing about any dealings the US is having with Mudar….?? Maybe because there aren’t any…?
The mention of defending their borders again seems to denote an OUTSIDE threat, as from Syria/Iran, not an internal one like the PLO/PA. Internal threats don’t threaten borders….at least not normally. I pointed this out the other day, and I still think I’m right.
Erekat has a lot of nerve. He has one lung from an American donor, received in a surgery in the US because on one in the Middle East does lung transplants. He has no loyalty for the people who saved his life. This is the kind of society and culture the world wants to give more power to. Stop helping them, for Heaven’s sake. All they do is take and no giving back.
Trump’s peace plan has included a regional format as the Israelis also wanted. Jordan is part of the region that is considered friendly to the USA.
This pulling out of context what Pompeo was talking about in Jordan with Jordanians and extrapolating it to Israel and the PA part of the peace plan is erroneous. Singer sees everything through the lens of his Jordan – Israel plan which is not the USA or Israel’s plan but Singers.