DOES JORDAN WANT PALESTINIANS IN CONTROL OF THE
BORDER?
By Khaled Abu Toameh
The
last thing the JORDANIANS want to see is hundreds of thousands of PALESTINIANS
move from the West Bank or Gaza Strip into the kingdom. Understandably, the JORDANIAN
monarch cannot go public with this stance for fear of being accused by Arabs
and Muslims of treason and collaboration with the "Zionist enemy."
PALESTINIAN
Authority Pesident Mahmoud Abbas says that the PALESTINIANS will not accept any
ISRAELI presence along the border between a future PALESTINIAN state and JORDAN.
PALESTINIAN NEVER-ENDING QUEST FOR MORE LAND
But
the question is whether JORDAN really wants to have PALESTINIANS on its
borders. In private off-the-record meetings, top JORDANIAN officials make it
crystal clear that they prefer to see ISRAEL sitting along their shared border.
Speaking at a university graduation ceremony in Jericho, Abbas stated that the
borders of the PALESTINIAN state would stretch from the Dead Sea in the south
and through the Jordan Valley all the way up to the town of Bet She'an in the
north.
"This
is a PALESTINIAN - JORDANIAN border and that is how it will remain," Abbas
said. "The responsibility for security along the border will be in the
hands of the PALESTINIANS." Abbas's remarks came in wake of leaks by PALESTINIAN
officials to the effect that at the current US-sponsored secret peace
negotiations, ISRAEL is demanding full control over the border with JORDAN in
any peace settlement with the PALESTINIANS.
Background Information:
PALESTINIAN - JORDANIAN
CONFEDERATION
TELLING THE UN SIX HOME TRUTHS
PALESTINE
AND PARANOIA - JORDAN, JERUSALEM AND JITTERS
ISRAEL,
of course, has its own reasons for refusing to cede control over the strategic JORDAN
Valley. ISRAEL'S main concern is that the border with JORDAN will be used by PALESTINIAN
terror groups and Islamist fundamentalist organizations to smuggle weapons and
terrorists into the West Bank and ISRAEL.
However,
there's another reason why ISRAEL remains strongly opposed to surrendering
control over its border with JORDAN to the PALESTINIAN Authority or a third
party. It is no secret that the JORDANIANS have long been worried about the
repercussions of the presence of PALESTINIANS on their border.
In
a recent closed briefing with a high-ranking JORDANIAN security official, he
was asked about the kingdom's position regarding the possibility that PALESTINIANS
might one day replace ISRAEL along the border with JORDAN.
"May
God forbid!" the official retorted. "We have repeatedly made it clear
to the ISRAELI side that we will not agree to the presence of a third party at
our border."
The
official explained that JORDAN'S stance was not new. "This has been our
position since 1967," he said. "The late King Hussein made this clear
to all ISRAELI governments and now His majesty, King Abdullah, remains
committed to this position."
JORDAN'S
opposition to placing the border crossings with the West Bank under PALESTINIAN
control is not only based on security concerns. Of course, JORDAN'S security
concerns are not unjustified, especially in light of what has been happening
over the past few years along the border between the Gaza Strip and EGYPT.
Furthermore
one should not forget the fact that in recent past the PALESTINIANS have already
tried to overthrow the JORDANIAN kingdom in order to continue their never-ending
quest for land. For it is common knowledge among Arab tribes that PALESTINIANS
will always claim more land, not only from ISRAEL but also from fellow Arab countries,
if given the option. When talking to Arabs from neighboring countries off the
records about PALESTINIANS they all tell the same thing: Since ancient times PALESTINIANS
were in quest for land, thus there is a saying: If you give a PALESTINIAN
JORDAN he will claim SYRIA, if you give him SYRIA he will claim IRAQ and so
forth. Thus one can imagine that once ISRAEL agrees to PALESTINIAN statehood in
no time they will claim Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Background Information: …..that offer to share the large land was so logical,
generous and right, it was literally ‘an offer he couldn’t refuse’--but Arafat
did in fact refuse that huge geographical land mass for a homeland. Instead he
tried to overthrow the King and take over all of Jordan.
Read entire article at: http://specialguests.com/guests/viewnews.cgi?id=EFFkkVkuulgKBngPvH&style=PrintFull&tmpl=fullprint
and
Background
Information:
What no mains stream media ever
reports are the opinion, citizens of other ARAB Nations, and tribes have of the
PALESTINIANS. Ask for example SYRIAN, JORDANIAN or LEBANESE
citizens, and they will in most cases comment, that no Sunni ARAB
tribe or nation really want PALESTINE Arabs in their country for PALESTINIAS
are notorious when it comes to land ownership, for they never are satisfied
with what they have. "Thus it’s better to let the ISRAELIS struggle
with them instead of us."
Read entire article at: http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com/2011/07/license-to-statehood.html
THE EGYPTIAN LESSON – HOTSPOT SINAI
The
EGYPTIANS are now paying a heavy price for neglecting their shared border with
the Gaza Strip over the past few decades. This lapse has seen Sinai emerge as a
hotbed for Al-Qaeda-linked terror groups that are now posing a serious threat
to EGYPT'S national security. Besides the security concerns, the JORDANIANS are
also worried about the demographic implications of PALESTINIAN security and
civilian presence over the border.
Their
worst nightmare, as a veteran JORDANIAN diplomat once told ISRAELI colleagues
during a private encounter, is that once the PALESTINIANS are given control
over the border, thousands of them from the future PALESTINIAN state would pour
into JORDAN. The JORDANIANS already have a "problem" with the fact
that their kingdom's population consists of a Palestinian majority, which some
say has reached over 80%. The last thing the JORDANIANS want is to see hundreds
of thousands of PALESTINIANS move from the West Bank or Gaza Strip into the
kingdom.
Although
the JORDANIANS are not part of the ongoing peace talks between the PALESTINIAN
Authority and ISRAEL, they are hoping that ISRAEL will not rush to abandon
security control over its long border with the kingdom. Understandably, the JORDANIAN
monarch cannot go public with its stance for fear of being accused by Arabs and
Muslims of treason and collaboration with the "Zionist enemy."
The
EGYPTIANS today know what the JORDANIANS have been aware of for a long time --
that a shared border with Fatah or Hamas or any other PALESTINIAN group is a
recipe for instability and anarchy. The EGYPTIANS surely miss the days when the
ISRAEL Defense Forces were sitting along the border between EGYPT and the Gaza
Strip.
Even
if Abbas's forces initially manage to maintain security and order along the
border with JORDAN, there is no guarantee as to what would happen in the
future. Between 2005 and 2007, Abbas's security forces were in control of the
main border crossing between the Gaza Strip and EGYPT -- before they were
expelled by Hamas.
It
is in ISRAEL'S interest to have stability and calm in JORDAN. Undermining JORDAN'S
security would create many problems for ISRAEL. To prevent such a scenario, ISRAEL,
if and when it reaches a deal with Abbas's PALESTINIAN Authority, needs to take
King Abdullah's fears and interests into consideration.
No comments:
Post a Comment