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)

Wednesday 28 August 2019

David Singer: Saudi Arabia Jolts Jordan to Negotiate with Israel on Trump Plan

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

He writes:

Abdul Hameed Al-Ghabin – “a Saudi writer and a political and tribal figure” – has challenged Jordan to negotiate with Israel on President Trump’s “deal of the century” – or risk losing control of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem currently vested in Jordan under the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty and the Washington Declaration.

 Al-Ghabin’s views have – significantly – been published by an Israeli newspaper. Saudi Arabia’s rulers have not condemned Al-Ghabin or disavowed his views – indicating that Al-Ghabin’s message could represent Saudi Arabia’s official position.
Al-Ghabin asserts:
“There is a major issue of contention: the future of the Palestinians and their right to self-determination. It is important and logical to us that Palestinians should have a state at the end of a peace process. However, anti-peace forces litter our region. An example of such a force is, sadly, the Kingdom of Jordan”.
Al-Ghabin asks:
 “How can we achieve peace if the Palestinian people remain without a place to call home?”
Al-Ghabin’s answer will assuredly jolt Jordan – and the United Nations – out of their long running historical, geographical and demographical memory loss:
“The answer is simple: Jordan is already 78 per cent of historical Palestine. Jordanians of Palestinian origin constitute more than 80 percent of the population according to U.S. intelligence cables leaked in 2010. Jordan is essentially already the Palestinian Arab state. The only problem is, the king of Jordan refuses to acknowledge this.
Nonetheless, the world will eventually recognize Jordan as the address for Palestinian statehood—and perhaps sooner than we think. We don’t know if the Jordanian royal family will still be in power when Jordan officially becomes Palestine, but we do know that if the royal family leaves and the Palestinian majority takes over, Jordan will officially become their homeland and we Arabs won’t feel guilty normalizing relations with Israel as another regional state.”
The sting in the tail is Al-Ghabin’s warning that Jordan’s custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem – created under article 9(2) of the Israel- Jordan Peace Treaty – could be ended if Jordan does not play ball.

Al-Ghabin is ruthless in his criticism of Jordan’s monarch – King Abdullah:
“As for the Al-Aqsa mosque, we have been financing it for over 70 years now. Saudi Arabia has donated billions of dollars to Jordan’s king and his father and grandfather, all in the name of “protecting” and “maintaining” Al-Aqsa. A quick look at the holy site is enough to show everyone that the king of Jordan has neither been maintaining nor protecting the site. The mosque is in a miserable state and unrest is always being stirred up there by the king’s appointed guards and loyalists.
We don’t need this, nor do the Israelis and Palestinians. Instead, Saudi Arabia could offer a proper custodianship of Al-Aqsa, under a new arrangement that secures the freedom of worship at the site for all. Our country has managed the holy shrines of Mecca and Medina for almost 100 years now, in the most efficient fashion. We welcome Iranian pilgrims and offer them generous services, despite Iran’s hostility and the fact that they belong to the Shiite sect”.
Abdullah has repeatedly called for the creation of a second Arab state in former Palestine – in addition to Jordan – claiming Middle East peace is only possible with the creation of such an additional State.

Al-Ghabin – and by extension Saudi Arabia – has signalled an alternative solution that might well be Trump’s proposed solution.

Abdullah needs to publicly commit to negotiating with Israel on whatever solution Trump proposes – or risk facing the unpleasant consequences telegraphed by Saudi Arabia.

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” —  one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

2 comments:

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  2. Sir Winston Churchill described “militant Mahommedanism” as “the religion of blood and war”.

    SOURCE:
    Churchill: Walking With Destiny
    (chapter 2, page 53) by Andrew Roberts,
    Viking Publishers, year 2018,
    ISBN 1101980990 * ISBN 9781101980996

    ===================================
    The phrase: "Islam in a man is like rabies in a dog"
    is often attributed to Sir Winston Churchill.

    However his exact words were:

    “How dreadful are the curses which
    Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!

    Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.”

    VOCABULARY NOTE:
    The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
    says that hydrophobia is another name for rabies.

    SOURCE 1: The River War:
    An Historical Account of the Reconquest
    of the Soudan
    , by Winston Churchill in 1899 CE,
    published by Longmans in two volumes.
    This quote was removed from the condensed
    1902 edition, for fear of antagonizing millions of
    Muslims that the British Empire ruled at that time.

    SOURCE 2:
    Churchill: Walking With Destiny
    (chapter 3, page 62) by Andrew Roberts,
    Viking Publishers, year 2018,
    ISBN 1101980990 * ISBN 9781101980996.

    ===================================
    In March 1921, when Sir Winston Churchill
    visited Gaza
    , the local Arabs
    greeted him with frenzied cries of:

    “Down with the Jews! Cut their throats!”

    SOURCE:
    Churchill: Walking With Destiny
    (chapter 12, page 283) by Andrew Roberts,
    Viking Publishers, year 2018,
    ISBN 1101980990 * ISBN 9781101980996

    ===================================
    In March 1921, Sir Winston Churchill
    said to the Arabs of Haifa:


    “It is manifestly right that the scattered Jews should have a national centre and a national home in which they might be reunited, and where else but in Palestine, with which the Jews for three thousand years have been intimately and profoundly associated?”

    SOURCE:
    Churchill: Walking With Destiny
    (chapter 12, page 283) by Andrew Roberts,
    Viking Publishers, year 2018,
    ISBN 1101980990 * ISBN 9781101980996

    ===================================
    “…the persecution of the Jews in Germany began in earnest with a Government-orchestrated national boycott of all Jewish businesses and professions, enforced by Brownshirt thugs on the streets who sadistically assaulted and humiliated Jews at every opportunity. Churchill’s philo-Semitism, so rare on Tory benches, was invaluable in allowing him to see sooner than anyone else the true nature of the Nazi regime.”

    SOURCE:
    Churchill: Walking With Destiny
    (chapter 15, page 367) by Andrew Roberts,
    Viking Publishers, year 2018,
    ISBN 1101980990 * ISBN 9781101980996

    ===================================
    “Churchill had eloquently denounced the notorious 1939 White Paper that had severely restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine.”

    SOURCE:
    Churchill: Walking With Destiny
    (chapter 23, page 601) by Andrew Roberts,
    Viking Publishers, year 2018,
    ISBN 1101980990 * ISBN 9781101980996

    ===================================
    On 1944 July 11, Sir Winston Churchill wrote this to [Anthony] Eden about the Nazi death camps: “There is no doubt that this is probably the greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world…”

    SOURCE:
    Churchill: Walking With Destiny
    (chapter 30, page 829) by Andrew Roberts,
    Viking Publishers, year 2018,
    ISBN 1101980990 * ISBN 9781101980996

    ReplyDelete

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