Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Monday 8 April 2019

David Singer: Hashemite Rule in Jordan on Collision Course with Trump and Israel

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

King Abdullah seems increasingly hell-bent on ending 99 years of Hashemite-dynasty rule in Jordan.

This possibility is emerging as Abdullah is:
  • Seemingly refusing to commit to negotiating with Israel on President Trump’s soon-to-be-released deal of the century to end the Jewish-Arab conflict and
  • Taking active steps to place the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty in jeopardy.
Transjordan (renamed Jordan in 1950) has always been the key to resolving competing territorial claims by both Arabs and Jews in former Palestine.

Transjordan comprised 78 per cent of the territory placed under the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine after being wrested from 400 years of Ottoman Empire sovereignty during World War One.

Mandatory Palestine was designated in April 1920 by the Principal Allied Powers at the San Remo Conference and in August 1920 by article 95 of the Treaty of Sevres as the location for reconstitution of the ancient and biblical homeland of the Jewish people.

Transjordan’s first Hashemite ruler – Abdullah I – arrived there in November 1920.

Abdullah was en route by train from Hijaz to Syria with armed forces to assist his brother Feisal in his struggle with France to retain power in Syria. Winston Churchill – at France’s request – offered Abdullah an Emirate in Transjordan – which Abdullah gratefully accepted on 11 April 1921.

Feisal was removed from Syria by the French and installed as ruler of Iraq under the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty dated 10 October 1922.  France became the Mandatory for the territory comprised in the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon.

These British-Franco machinations cost the Jewish people dearly, when the Mandate for Palestine – adopted unanimously by all 51 members of the League of Nations on 24 July 1922 – denied the Jewish people the right to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in any part of Transjordan (Eastern Palestine) and restricted that right to the remaining 22 percent (Western Palestine).

The Jews reluctantly accepted this decision. The Arabs didn’t.

In 1946 Transjordan was granted independence by Great Britain.

In 1948 – immediately after the Mandate ended and Jews declared the State of Israel – Transjordan invaded Western Palestine, conquering Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem (comprising 4 per cent of Mandatory Palestine) – and unified these areas with Transjordan to form a new territorial entity – Jordan – encompassing 82 per cent of Mandatory Palestine completely devoid of Jews.

The founding Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Charter in 1964 specifically excluded any PLO claim to sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.

In the 1967 Six Day War Israel captured Judea and Samaria from Jordan. The PLO – claiming Jordan and Israel to be one indivisible territorial unit – removed its non-claim to sovereignty from the revised 1968 Charter.

In September 1970 the PLO unsuccessfully tried to overthrow Jordan’s Hashemite ruler King Hussein. Israel helped save Hussein.

Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty 1994 (Peace Treaty) – which has withstood many events that could have seen its termination.

That Treaty is again under threat – as Jordan has:
  • indicated it is not prepared to renew an expired 25-year lease of Jordanian sovereign territory farmed by Israelis and
  • given the PLO 40% representation on the body charged with administering the Moslem Holy Sites in Jerusalem – breaching the Washington Declaration and the Peace Treaty.
Jordan’s resistance to negotiating with Israel on Trump’s plan could see Trump shelving it and abruptly ending the 2018 five years $1.275 billion America–Jordan Memorandum of Understanding underpinning Jordan’s security and stability.

The PLO – as in 1970 – is waiting in the wings as current ongoing unrest in Jordan is destabilizing continuing Hashemite rule there.

Abdullah might find that spurning Trump and Israel could see him facing the PLO on his own.

2 comments:

  1. Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:

    “In life as in law there are statutes of limitations that recognize that history changes the status quo.

    The time has come — indeed it is long overdue — for the world to stop treating these Palestinians [from year 1948] as refugees. That status ended decades ago.”

    SOURCE: What Is a Refugee?
    by Alan Dershowitz, 2018 March 10
    www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12014/refugee-jews-morocco-palestinians-israel
    www.algemeiner.com/2018/03/14/alan-dershowitz-what-is-a-refugee-the-jews-from-morocco-versus-the-palestinians-from-israel/

    ===================================
    Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:

    The most recent Hamas provocations — having 40,000 Gazans try to tear down the border fence and enter Israel with Molotov cocktails and other improvised weapons — are part of a repeated Hamas tactic that I have called the “dead baby strategy.”

    Hamas’ goal is to have Israel kill as many Gazans as possible so that the headlines always begin, and often end, with the body count.

    SOURCE: Why Does the Media Keep Encouraging Hamas Violence?
    by Alan Dershowitz, 2018 May 16
    www.algemeiner.com/2018/05/16/alan-dershowitz-why-does-the-media-keep-encouraging-hamas-violence/

    ===================================
    Leon Kushner said:

    “Israel is not perfect. No country is. But attacking the only Jewish state and ignoring the rest of the world’s bad players is anti-Semitic, plain and simple.”

    SOURCE:
    It’s Hard to Raise Jewish Children in an Anti-Israel World
    by Leon Kushner, 2018 July 25
    www.algemeiner.com/2018/07/25/its-hard-to-raise-jewish-children-in-an-anti-israel-world/

    ===================================
    Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:

    “The anti-Semitism from the right is the typical fascist anti-Semitism that we remember from the bad and dark old days.

    The anti-Semitism of the left is quite different; it disguises itself as anti-Zionism, but it quickly morphs into anti-Semitism. When students yell there’s no room for Zionists at Hunter College, they don’t mean Zionists.

    They mean Jews. When they attack the Zionist president of Hunter, they attack the woman who happens to be Jewish. I don’t even know what her views on Israel are.
    So, it’s a new form of anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism. We have to fight it hard.”

    SOURCE: Alan Dershowitz on Trump, Israel, and Anti-Semitism
    by Hannah Grossman, 2018 November 6
    www.algemeiner.com/2018/11/06/alan-dershowitz-on-trump-israel-and-antisemitism/

    ===================================
    Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:

    “G*D will give the Jewish people strength,
    only then will the Jewish people have peace,
    and that is the lesson of the Holocaust;
    that is the lesson of Israel.

    A strong Israel is required to get peace.
    Never apologize for your strength.”

    SOURCE: Alan Dershowitz Dismantles the BDS Movement
    a YouTube video by Alan M. Dershowitz, 2016/7/23
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY19Y83eESY
    https://youtu.be/pY19Y83eESY
    www.aish.com/jw/me/Alan-Dershowitz-Dismantles-the-BDS-Movement.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. “Al Qaeda, like most Islamic extremist groups in the Middle East, rejects Israel’s very existence…”

    SOURCE: Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement:
    What Everyone Needs to Know
    (chapter 6, page 133) by Daniel Byman,
    Oxford University Press, year 2015, ISBN: 019021726X (paperback)
    ISBN: 9780190217266 (paperback) ISBN: 0190217251 ISBN: 9780190217259

    PERSONAL COMMENT:
    This sentence SHOULD have said:
    “Al Qaeda, like most Muslims everywhere,
    rejects Israel’s very existence…”

    ===================================
    “…[Ayman] Zawahiri explains that adopting an anti-Israel message is the best way to mobilize the Muslim masses to support the jihadist cause.”

    SOURCE: Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement:
    What Everyone Needs to Know
    (chapter 6, page 133) by Daniel Byman,
    Oxford University Press, year 2015, ISBN: 019021726X (paperback)
    ISBN: 9780190217266 (paperback) ISBN: 0190217251 ISBN: 9780190217259

    ===================================
    “Al Qaeda had access to an extended network of donors, primarily Arabs from the Persian Gulf states, who funded a variety of jihadist causes.”

    SOURCE: Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement:
    What Everyone Needs to Know
    (chapter 7, page 156) by Daniel Byman,
    Oxford University Press, year 2015, ISBN: 019021726X (paperback)
    ISBN: 9780190217266 (paperback) ISBN: 0190217251 ISBN: 9780190217259

    ===================================
    “…for years, the United Nations (UN) refused to condemn terrorism, due to sympathy for national liberation movements that used terrorism as a tactic, such as the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).”

    SOURCE: Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement:
    What Everyone Needs to Know
    (chapter 9, page 187) by Daniel Byman,
    Oxford University Press, year 2015, ISBN: 019021726X (paperback)
    ISBN: 9780190217266 (paperback) ISBN: 0190217251 ISBN: 9780190217259

    ReplyDelete

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