Trump readies to dump PLO for Jordan-Israel negotiations
President Trump and America’s UN Ambassador Nikki Haley – virtually within hours of each other – have laid the groundwork for Jordan to replace the PLO as Israel’s negotiating partner under President Bush’s 2003 Roadmap – endorsed by the United Nations, European Union, and Russia – and Bush’s 2004 Congress-endorsed commitments to Israel…writes David Singer.
Haley told the UN Security Council:
- Real peace requires leaders who are willing to step forward, acknowledge hard truths, and make compromises. It requires leaders who look to the future, rather than dwell on past resentments. Above all, such leaders require courage.
- Abbas’s two-hour speech to the PLO Central Council on 14 January
- Declared the landmark Oslo Peace Accords dead.
- Rejected any American role in peace talks.
- Insulted President Trump
- Called for suspending recognition of Israel.
- Invoked an ugly and fictional past, reaching back to the 17th century to paint Israel as a colonialist project engineered by European powers.
Such a speech indulging in outrageous and discredited conspiracy theories is not the speech of a person with the courage and the will to seek peace.
- King Hussein of Jordan was a leader with courage. In 1994, he ended 46 years of war and entered into a peace agreement with Israel that holds to this day. When King Hussein signed the peace treaty, he said:
“These are the moments in which we live, the past and the future. When we come to live next to each other, as never before, we will be doing so, Israelis and Jordanians, together, without the need for any to observe our actions or supervise our endeavors. This is peace with dignity; this is peace with commitment.”
Abbas’s recent actions demonstrate Abbas is the total opposite of King Hussein.
Haley certainly pulled no punches.
Trump – attending the World Economic Forum in Davos – had some additional dismissive remarks to make about the PLO:
- The PLO disrespected America by not allowing America’s great Vice- President Mike Pence to see them.
- Money was never on the table. America gives the Palestinian Arabs tremendous amounts, hundreds of millions of dollars a year. That money is on the table. Because why should America do that as a country if they’re doing nothing for America?
- Trump doesn’t know whether Israel-PLO negotiations will ever take place.
Trump and Haley have clearly indicated that the ground is rapidly shifting under a corrupt PLO edifice that:
- unashamedly continues to fund murderers of Israelis and non-Israelis
- is not yet tired and disgusted of such killing
Replacing Abbas will not solve the PLO’s dilemma. Abbas’s speech to the PLO Central Council was frequently interrupted by loud applause from the entire PLO leadership gathered in Ramallah.
Trump ominously remarked that Israel would have to pay for Jerusalem being taken off the table as the toughest issue requiring resolution in any negotiations.
Israeli concessions can be more easily negotiated if Jordan – not the PLO – is Israel’s negotiating partner – because:
- Amman is Jordan’s long-established capital
- Jordan also enjoys negotiating rights on Jerusalem’s future under article 9 (2) of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty:
“In this regard [freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance] in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.”
Israel-Jordan negotiations indeed represent the best opportunity to end the 100 years-old Arab-Jewish conflict.
The PLO has seemingly done its dash – and hundreds of millions in cash – in defiantly taking on Trump.
David Singer is a Sydney Lawyer and Foundation Member of the International Analysts Network
Does this mean the Palestinians living in occupied Palestine and Israel who own land, farms and homes there will see this property become part of Jordan?
Arabs living in Israel are citizens of Israel – Israeli Arabs. Any land, homes and farms they own in Israel will remain under Israeli sovereignty.
The overwhelming majority of West Bank Arabs living in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) will become citizens of Jordan. Any land, homes and farms they own there will come under Jordanian sovereignty. None of them will have to leave their properties.
Partition rarely works or cause much slaughter. (eg) Korea, Vietnam, British India, Germany, New Guinea, Ireland to name a few.
Adrian
Partitioning Palestine between Arabs and Jews has been the international solution since it was first proposed in 1922 by the League of Nations, then in 1937 by the Peel Royal Commission, then in 1947 by the UN Partition Plan.
The problem has not been Partition – it has been the absolute refusal of the Arabs on each occasion to accept Partition. They already have 78% of Palestine (Jordan) – but want 100% (Israel and the West Bank).
When they accept they are not going to get 100% – then a solution becomes achievable which would see the Arabs roughly getting 80% and the Jews about 20%.
How Trump proposes getting the Arabs to abandon their 100 years old campaign to drive all the Jews into the sea will make fascinating reading when his ultimate deal becomes public.
Ho hum. The Jordan obsession again. Yawn!
Abdullah is not Hussein. Jordan is a basket case. The king misrules to appease the Palestinian majority which resents his clan.
Just when did Trump ominously remark that Israel would have to pay for Jerusalem being taken off the table? I’ve heard nothing. And what does that have to do with Jordan?
The only outcomes that would be workable are either the expulsion of those Arabs who are implacably hostile to Israel or the restoration of Jordanian citizenship to the Arabs living in Judea and Samaria with Israel granting them conditional residency rights i.e. cross Jordan egress to any who aggress.
Paul
Ho hum… yawn
You have heard nothing about Israel having to pay for Jerusalem being taken off the table – so you arrogantly seeks to denigrate me to compensate for your ignorance.
Following is the text of Trump’s remark in Davos:
“TRUMP: We’re going to see what happens. Yes, we have a proposal for peace. It’s a great proposal for the Palestinians. I think it’s a very good proposal for Israel. It covers a lot of the things that were over the years discussed and agreed on, but the fact is, [turns to Netanyahu,] and I think you know this better than anybody, there were never any deals that came close because Jerusalem, you could never get past Jerusalem.
So when people said, oh, I set it back. I didn’t set it back, I helped them. Because by taking it off the table, that was the toughest issue. And Israel will pay for that.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-netanyahu-trump-meeting-in-davos/
Had you taken the time to read the text of Trump’s remarks in Davos which was hyperlinked in my article you would not have made such an inane comment.
As for Abdullah not being another Hussein – perhaps you might like to read the following article and rethink your unsubstantiated claim:
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/eye-on-palestine/report-jordanian-king-told-lebanese-pm-arabs-must-surrender-to-trumps-minimalist-peace-plan/2018/01/26/
No doubt the issues you raise about the citizenship of West Bank Arabs will be part of any Jordan-Israel negotiations. Those negotiations need to start – and soon. They are already 95 years overdue.
Jordan is Palestine, Palestine is Jordan, the capital is Amman.
Until the end of July 1988, the 1.5 million “Palestinians” living in Judea and Shomron (West Bank) were citizens of Jordan. Restoring their Jordanian citizenship is a way forward.
Will this land become part of Jordan too.