Israeli proposal: Make Jordan the official Palestinian homeland

[bemildred]

Amman, Jordan; and Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior members of his cabinet have pushed back hard against a renewed US demand to end settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories. Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Sunday that it amounted to "expulsion."

But 53 Israeli parliamentarians have moved to explore another kind of expulsion: Under a proposal to be reviewed this week, Jordan would become the official homeland for Palestinians now living in the West Bank.

Among the challenges facing the proposal is this: nobody asked Jordan if it would support such a plan.

Not surprisingly, it doesn't.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0601/p06s01-wome.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[leveymg]

2. Tried that in '70 - didn't work out very well for either party. "Black September"

What an absurd, bad-faith proposal from Netanyahu. Guaranteed to fail, mere suggestion guaranteed to provoke the Palestinians.

[rateyes]

3. Netanyahu, get the hell out of the West Bank. Remove all settlements

now. Expulsion? Wow. Talk about the pot & kettle.

[LeftishBrit]

4. Two little problems with this suggestion

(1) The Palestinians don't want it.

(2) The Jordanians don't want it.

In other words. 57 MKs are either idiots or deliberate obstructionists. Or most likely both.

[Violet_Crumble]

13. It's a safe bet those 57 MKs are both idiots and deliberate obstructionists....

Y'know, while I initially snickered at the stupidity of those MKs, it's actually pretty disturbing that 57 out of 120 MKs support this...

[TimesSquareCowboy]

5. It's at least an admission that Gaza and WB couldn't constitute a separate nation.

[Igel]

7. However, then it would allow the WB, or most of it,

to be folded into an existing country.

Israel's essentially asking that something akin to the status quo as of 1966 be imposed. Jordan rejected having the West Bank returned before, even though it had previously annexed it (so it wanted it before it didn't want it). Of course, the reason for the change of heart is obvious: "Black September" ring a bell?

As it is, a majority of the population is "Syro-Palestinians" (whatever that means), with probably a majority, or at least a large plurality, being Palestinian. Put Gaza and the WB together and it's still not a given that it would be the country with the largest number of Palestinians in it (unless, of course, all the ones in various other countries "returned" to the WB.)

[TimesSquareCowboy]

9. Folding WB into another country would be a way of avoiding the problem

that arises because of settlements, resource appropriation, walls and roads: that WB could never sustain itself.

The Israelis have created a problem in that at this point there is only one viable solution to the issue: a one state solution.

[Shaktimaan]

12. You've suggested the only thing so far in this thread...

to which the "Jordan becomes Palestine" plan would be preferable.

Think about it. If we were to try and fold Palestine into any other state, which one would make more sense? The one that is already 50+% Palestinian and 100% Arab that just 20 years ago counted all of the WB inhabitants as its citizens, or their enemies for the past 100 years, which is 80% ethnically different and the sole non-Arab state in the entire region?

Now, I'm not coming out in favor of this crazy Palestine/Jordan proposal. Merely pointing out the sheer absurdity of the "One State Solution" as it applies to the current reality. To say that the WB is unsustainable because of easily alterable things like roads or walls in favor of supporting a single IsraeliPalistinian state, (in the name of "viability" of all things), is to embrace madness.

[TimesSquareCowboy]

14. But it's madness that has been created by the famous 'facts on the ground'

Ironic, right? Israel has doomed itself.

[Vegasaurus]

16. Israelis don't feel doomed in the slighest

they aren't living in misery.

If the Palestinians want a state, and want to get out of their misery, they will have to get used to having Jews living in the middle east.

The Israelis will go on living happily either way.

[shira]

17. Pal'ns want their misery to end......but Pal'n leadership has no motivation to end that misery

[Vegasaurus]

18. Nor do the other Arab states

In fact, they have a vested interest in the Palestinian ongoing misery.

[Shaktimaan]

20. Whether that is true or not, it doesn't really matter.

I'm no fan of the settlements but we have to deal with the situation as it exists today, not how we think it should look had Israel acted differently in the past.

Israel has far from doomed itself just because of the existence of settlements. Solutions exist that don't include apartheid or a single state. Realistically, most of the major settlements could stay (and will probably have to) without taking too much of the west bank away from the Palestinians. Once you erase things like the barrier, checkpoints, Israeli-only roads and so on we're not talking about any loss of contiguity or even substantial land loss, most of which could be mitigated through land swaps of one sort or another. So it's far from a doomed situation. It'll just require compromise on the part of both parties. Unfortunately more than either side seems willing to commit to at this point. But still, not quite doomed exactly.

[The Second Stone]

6. How about make the area near Maimi Beach Israel?

And give the rest of Palestine back to Israel? Seeing as diplomatic statements are now provocations?

[azurnoir]

8. Wow so half of the Knesset agrees to this

I have seen this "suggestion" before made here on DU and in talkbacks but for the Israeli government to seriously consider this, what are they thinking?

My prediction is this-the proposal will be struck down in the Knesset and that motion will be trumpeted as "see we're really not that bad or see how good we are"

[bemildred]

10. Yup, we are completely off in Alice-in-wonderland here.

And that is disturbing.

[varelse]

11. This isn't exactly a new idea

but it is kind of surprising that any modern government would propose this again. It's hard to believe they're serious.

[Fozzledick]

15. Maybe they could join with Hungary?

:yoiks:

[Shaktimaan]

19. I was thinking about this the other day...

and I remembered an interesting paper I read that discussed this option as a possible solution. In general I just happened to think that the paper was a good primer on many of the basic issues concerning, and obstacles faced by, any possible peace process. Ultimately it rejected the Jordanian option as unfeasible but it also offered an interesting regional solution that I personally consider to be one of the most reasonable options I've heard to date.

It is an engaging read and I think really worth checking out. (And it has a PDF download available so you can print it out and read it. It's not super long but it's not super short either.)

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC04.php?CID=299

[WinkyDink]

21. Wasn't Trans-Jordan once home to those who chose to leave the newly-formed Israel?

And didn't the (now-)Jordanians defeat those now-called "Palestinians" because the latter tried to assassinate King Hussein?

THIS is why Jordan doesn't want the Palestinians. THIS is why NO Arab state does.
IMHO.

[FarrenH]

22. So they want to give the West Bank to Jordan?

Sarcasm of course. They don't. They want to expel Palestinians into the existing borders of Jordan - unless I missed something - the "two states for two peoples on the two banks of the River Jordan" language indicates otherwise.

Which effectively makes this a little more than a proposal to dispossess people of their land. There isn't any justice or reason in this at all.

This passes for a "peace" proposal among Israel's right wingers? Ask some other country to take refugees who's land you intend to steal? Imagine US congressmen suggesting that native Americans be forced into Canadian citizenship, worse still, before even asking Canada? How stupid are these people?