‘The King of Jordan does not want a Palestinian state’

miri zahi

Orientalist Yoni Ben Menahem tells of a conversation in which King Abdullah told Arik Sharon that his warnings are only lip service, said to prevent a Palestinian uprising in his country.

20-05-2020

Regarding the concerns of senior figures in the Blue and White party over King Abdullah of Jordan’s reaction to Israel’s steps toward sovereignty, the orientalist and researcher, former media correspondent Yoni Ben Menahem, tells of the correct way to interpret the king’s warnings  against Israel taking the expected steps.
 
In an interview that he gave to Arutz 7, Ben Menahem also told of a telephone conversation that was held between King Abdullah and Arik Sharon, during his term as Prime Minister of Israel, when he told him what his true intentions were regarding his warnings. At that time, Ben Menahem published this as a reporter for Kol Yisrael.
 
“King Abdullah is different from his father, King Hussein. He lives in constant fear and he has no independent line of communication with Israel. It is like walking between the raindrops, mainly because of tensions in Jordan, severe economic tension that has increased as a result of the Corona crisis”, says Ben Menahem, and tells of discussions that he has had with senior members of the PA, who are not impressed by Abdullah’s warnings:
 
The PA says, off the record, that he makes these statements because he fears that there will be an intifada in Jordan. So he is quick to issue his warning to Israel, in order to calm the Palestinians in Jordan. It seems as if it is meant externally but the message is aimed toward Jordan itself”.
 
In a conversation with him, Ben Menahem recalls that the king’s father, King Hussein, declared back in 1988, in the midst of the first intifada that his country is cut off from Judea and Samaria and has no territorial claims on these areas. “And senior sources in Fatah believe that he is threatening Israel to try to show that he stands exclusively with the Palestinians, but Jordan has conceded all connection”.
 
On the aforementioned discussion between the king and Sharon, Ben Menahem says: “At that time I revealed a secret discussion between Sharon and King Abdullah. The king told him then that he ‘should not pay attention to all of my declarations. I have to say things, but actually, I would like the IDF soldiers to remain on the Jordanian border’. He does not want Palestinian soldiers there, who could act as a springboard eastward to try to bring about a change of Hashemite power, as has happened in the past”.
 
Regarding this, Ben Menahem said that the Palestinian aspiration is to establish a state on both banks of the Jordan. “King Abdullah knows this quite well but he pays lip service to the Palestinians”.
 
Ben Menahem also notes the many benefits that the Hashemite kingdom receives as a result of the agreement with Israel, benefits that no one in the kingdom would hurry to discard. “The overt matters are the water that Israel supplies and the gas agreement with Israel, but there is also the security issue, which is not spoken of. It is clear that in times of trouble, if the Hashemite rule is in danger, as it was in the past when there were threats from Syria and Israel was summoned to the king’s aid, now too, he knows that in the end, it is the IDF that can help him prevent the collapse of the  regime, and the political echelon from which it receives its directives”.
 
I don’t think that the king wants a Palestinian state on the West Bank. He would also lose his status as guardian of the holy sites in Jerusalem, a status that is not harmed in the Deal of the Century. This issue is very important to them as the royal family, since they see themselves as the descendants of the prophet Mohammad. Moreover, the king’s great grandfather was murdered by a Palestinian at the Temple Mount. King Abdullah knows all of these things quite well”.

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