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Jordan’s catch-22

Jan 08,2018 - Last updated at Jan 08,2018

The pile of challenging issues on His Majesty King Abdullah's desk is mounting, at the bottom of which are the issues which the social media is busy writing about. The disconnect between what the King focuses on and what social media are concerned with is warranted and understandable.

King Abdullah has undertaken upon himself the draconian burden of dealing with foreign and security issues. These are no longer issues; they are actually tough challenges which require very difficult and tricky decisions. 

While President Donald Trump is busy tweeting on foreign issues, he is not fully aware of the impact such few words may have on the world at large and over the region in particular.

Regardless of the motives and pressures which induce Mr Trump to make major threats against those who oppose his handling of the Palestinian crisis, the biggest ones fall on Jordan and the King. 

The Palestinian Authority has already made its position clear. They will not give up their rights in Jerusalem to the bullish shoving of the Trump administration. Without the authority’s approval, Mr Trump, if intent on resolving the Palestinian deadlock, he will have one of two options. 

He can either drop the issue and put it in the backburner, or he may look for another peace negotiating partner, and that would be Jordan.

Israel is hurriedly adopting measures and legislations which would make it very difficult for any Israeli government to accept a maximum solution which would meet the minimum Palestinian legitimate demands. Under such a situation, neither the Palestinian Authority nor for sure the Palestinian Liberation Organisation would succumb to that.

Without the Palestinians signing a peace agreement with Israel which guarantees them a national independent state, Jordan had always been unwilling to ponder, let alone enter, any strategic arrangements with the Palestinian Authority. 

The alternative would be to apply a great deal of pressure on Jordan by the Jared Kushners and the Mike Pences of the current American administration. Jordan may be seen by them as an obstacle to peace.

How should such a scenario be handled? What if the Palestinians decided to dissolve the Palestinian Authority regardless of how remote such a possibility may be? What if the US tacitly approves Israel’s attempt to disband the Palestinian Authority? That would leave Jordan an open alternative?

His Majesty and the Jordanian people are very grateful for those countries which understand and even empathise with its political and economic predicaments. Yet, what can they actually do to counter a determined and unidirectional looking American heedlessness?

 

Jordan has the respect of all, but cannot rely on anybody’s effective support in case it was abandoned by the US and its allies. We need them to prove us wrong in case Jordan was squeezed into a catch-22 situation.

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