Unfortunately, the Palestinian leadership is not the only spoiled brat in the Middle East. The other one resides in Amman, in the fake kingdom known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah II have been doing a lot of complaining and making a lot of threats lately. Most recently, Abbas threatened riots if U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century” takes hold.
In addition to threatening riots, Abbas also said he would dissolve the Palestinian Authority if Trump’s plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is implemented. How many times have we heard this threat before? I’ve lost count. Sorry, Abbas, but you’re full of hot air on this one.
I do not believe, however, that we can ignore his threat of violence. We’ve seen this scenario before. In the year 2000, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was offered over 90 percent of Judea and Samaria, control of part of the Old City in Jerusalem and additional land in Israel as part of a swap in exchange for the part of Judea and Samaria that Israel was to annex. This was not enough for Arafat, who decided to instigate a second Intifada in which acts of Palestinian terrorism led to the murder of over one thousand Israelis because he didn’t get what he wanted.
The juvenile, obstinate behavior of the Palestinian leadership has been consistent since the beginning of the Arab-Israeli conflict. What is different now is that a growing number of international players are getting tired of it and the Palestinians are finding themselves increasingly isolated. Even the leaders of the Arab states are growing frustrated with the intransigence of Palestinian leaders.
Perhaps it is incumbent upon the entire international community to deal with the Palestinian leadership the way parents sometimes deal with an unruly youngster. Give them the silent treatment. Let Abbas and the rest of his cabal whine all they want, but ignore them.
Unfortunately, the Palestinian leadership is not the only spoiled brat in the Middle East. The other one resides in Amman, in the fake kingdom known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. I describe the Hashemite kingdom as fake because it was established by no means of self-determination.
Like Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, Jordan was a product of the Sykes-Picot arrangement that divided the Middle East between the British and French colonial powers. The British quite literally put the Hashemite family on the throne of the new country. King Abdullah II and his family do not even come from Jordan. They come from the Hejaz region, which is now the west coast of Saudi Arabia, where they were once the custodians of Mecca, Islam’s holiest city. Now, King Abdullah II and his bunch claim to be the custodians of the holy places in Jerusalem, including the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Apartheid in Jordan
Meanwhile, they rule Jordan with an iron fist. The country actually resembles Apartheid South Africa because it is a case of a minority ruling over a majority. Not a white minority ruling over a black majority, mind you, but a Bedouin minority ruling over a Palestinian majority. In other words, even though Palestinians make up the majority of the population, it is the Hashemites and their Bedouin allies that hold all the power in the country. If not for the presence of the Hashemite regime, the issue of Palestinian statehood would have been resolved long ago.
King Abdullah II himself is quite the hypocrite. He talks a lot about the so-called Israeli occupation, but he is quite aware that for nineteen years, between 1948 and 1967, it was his family that unilaterally took control of the West Bank and annexed the territory. Yet, he has the chutzpah to angrily tell Israel not to annex the same territory his family once ruled without any legitimacy.
The Hashemite king is also biting the hand that feeds him. Israel supplies his kingdom with water, and more recently, began supplying it with gas. If the Hashemite dictator dislikes Israel so much, then perhaps he ought to get his gas elsewhere. Maybe Israel should also cut off the water it supplies to his kingdom. As far as I’m concerned, King Abdullah II can drink from the Dead Sea.
