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The Jordanian Option by Professor Dr. Ahmad Tell The “Jordanian option” is based upon the concept of settling the Palestine Question in association with Jordan. Originally, the idea was the Peel Commission of 1936 and by Count Folke Bernadotte, the UN Mediator on Palestine in 1948. Bernadotte mentioned in his report to the General Assembly of September 16, 1948 (A/648) the possibility of merging with Transjordan, in full consultation with the Arab inhabitants of Palestine, the territory of Palestine which was earmarked for the Arab State in accordance with the UN partition Resolution. Israel’s seizure and annexation of most of the area of Palestine in 1948 and 1949, including most of the territory earmarked for the Arab State, prevented the pursuit of Count Bernadotte’s suggestion. The idea of the merger of Jordanian and Palestinian territories was carried out by King Abdullah of Jordan in 1950 when he arranged a parliamentary vote for the unification of Transjordan and Palestine upon the request of the Palestinian leaders of all factions in the West Bank. Israel’s Jordanian Option The question arose again in 1967 after Israel had occupied the West Bank and Gaza. The idea of settling the problem in association with Jordan was revived, this time by Israel, in order to resolve the issue, not with regard to the territory of Palestine that was reserved for the Arab State under the Partition Resolution as had been suggested by Count Bernadotte, but with regard only to the West Bank and Gaza. Such a plan was substantially based upon the political program of the Israeli Labor Party. The motive is not generosity but is entirely selfish. If Israel were to absorb the territories occupied in 1967 and their Arab population of over a million and a half, the number of Palestinians, added to Israel’s present Arab-citizen population of 700,000, would comprise 40 per cent of Israel’s total population. This would dilute the Jewishness of Israel and would be in contradiction with the Zionist concept of a purely Jewish State. Moreover, with the higher Arab birthrate, non-Jews could within the foreseeable future become the majority of the population. Hence, by effecting a so-called “compromise” over the West Bank with Jordan under a peace treaty, Israel would achieve several objectives: It would get rid of a large number of Palestinians, obtain Arab ratification of its conquests, and liquidate the Palestine Question. The above considerations, however, did not cause any concern to Menachem Begin who rejected the Jordanian Option after becoming Prime Minister of Israel in 1977. His policy was not to return to the Arabs a single inch of the West Bank. The annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, which he described as Judea and Samaria of biblical times, was his paramount objective, which he sought to achieve by the multiplication of Jewish settlements. The problem posed by the number of Palestinians could be settled by expulsion, apartheid (which is already in application) or, by the grant of autonomy to the Palestinians in municipal affairs in accordance with the Camp David formula. This has been the policy of the Likud in contradiction to the Israeli Labor Party. Jordan’s Jordanian Option A somewhat different Jordanian option was adopted as Jordan’s policy by King Hussein after the capture of the West Bank and Gaza by Israel in 1967. In an attempt to counter Israeli efforts to annex the occupied territories by the creation of settlements, King Hussein proposed on March 15, 1972 the unification of the west Bank and the east Bank of the Jordan in a “United Arab Kingdom”. The proposal was rejected by the Palestine Liberation Organization. Again on June 22, 1977, Jordan revived the proposal and suggested a federation between an autonomous West Bank of Palestine and an East Bank State of Jordan. The proposal was again rejected by the PLO. When President Reagan offered his peace plan of Palestinian autonomy in association with Jordan in 1982, King Hussein seized the occasion to offer to the Palestinians a confederation between the West Bank and Jordan. This assumed the future establishment of a Palestinian State and was meant as a compromise between the Fez and Reagan plans. King Hussein’s proposal was discussed by the Palestine National Council at Algiers in February 1983. The principle of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation was approved, but only on condition that each of the members of the federation was established as an independent state. Jordan-PLO agreement of February 11, 1985 At the initiative of King Hussein of Jordan an agreement was reached on February 11, 1985 between the government of Jordan and the PLO on a joint initiative to promote a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict on the basis of the UN resolutions and in the context of a federation. The agreement provided for the implementation of the following principles:
The joint peace initiative encountered a number of difficulties. The US and Israel opposed the holding of negotiations with PLO representatives and the holding of negotiations in the context of an international conference. Regarding the composition of the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, the US and Israel claimed the right to approve the Palestinian members. Moreover, a difference also arose between Jordan and the PLO concerning the point whether Security Council Resolution 242 would serve as the guideline for the negotiations. King Hussein showed readiness to accept resolution 242 while the PLO rejected it because it does not guarantee the national rights of the people of Palestine. Eventually, the plan for a Jordanian-PLO joint peace initiative collapsed in February 1986 over disagreement between King Hussein and the PLO regarding Security Council Resolution 242. July 25, 1999 Professor Dr. Ahmad Tell, of Jordanian origin, is Dean of Zarka Private National Community College in Zarka, Jordan. In 1980 he received an Award of Distinction from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. He is the author of several books and publications: Higher Education in Jordan , published in 1997, including Abdullah Tell, the Hero and Why Did the Arabs Fail?, both of which are currently under print. Dr.Tell also wrote a research paper about the former Prime Minister Samir Rifai and the Palestinian cause in 1997.Dr.Tell was an officer in the Arab Legion from 1946-1950 and fought in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948.
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