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Using ‘weapon’ of peace treaty to regain Palestinians’ rights

Jun 02,2019 - Last updated at Jun 02,2019

While I share the overwhelming criticism and condemnation of Israel over its devastating policies towards the Palestinians, especially its provocative and illegal steps to strengthen its grip on occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank, and its purported attempt to annex East Jerusalem and molest the sanctity of its religious places, I fail to comprehend how the solution to these dangers would lie in the termination of the 1994 Wadi Arab peace accord with Israel.

There are increasing voices, out of desperation no doubt, calling not only for stopping all normalisation with Israel, whatever that means, but also for ending the peace treaty with Israel altogether. I would like to ask all the people behind these calls the following question: how would the end of the peace treaty with Israel contribute to the resolution of all the outstanding grievances with Israel over these pressing Palestinian issues?

For starters, I defer to the judgement of His Majesty the late King Hussein, who after considerable thought and reflection and weighing all relevant issues, including the pro and con arguments, decided to go ahead and conclude a peace treaty with Israel. I cannot imagine that any of the critics of the accord have given the issue more thought and deeper consideration than the late King.

Do these people honestly and genuinely believe that returning to a war mode with Israel would lend support to their legitimate concerns? Let us get serious please! Jordan is in no position to return to a war mode with Israel for obvious reasons. The late King Hussein must have weighed all arguments against the peace treaty and had taken into consideration where Jordan's security lies in a region of the world where the threats against its territorial integrity from other regional actors are increasing and not decreasing.

Instead of calling for an end to the treaty, critics may ask how to “invest” it for the resolution of most, if not all, the concerns of the Palestinians, and bring them closer to a fair, just and legitimate resolution.

Jordan has been able to protect Muslim and Christian holy sites in East Jerusalem because it is on talking terms with Israel. Left with no modus operandi to engage Israel, the hands of Jordan would be tied down indefinitely and rendered unable to salvage what can still be saved from Israeli lust for more territorial annexations.

Surely the day will come when the Palestinians would be able to regain all their rights and fulfill their national aspirations. Until that day arrives, Jordan must try to stop the additional Israeli aggression against the Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank by using the "weapon" of the peace treaty for that purpose.

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