Jordan faces the West Bank issue anew

Al Ghad’s Maher Abu Tair said that Israel is deeply threatening the Jordanian interests and officials’ answers to questions about what they will do to stop these threats, they give different replies.

These answers talks about the Jordanian-US relations, Washington’s protection to Tel Aviv and the US’s control over several matters to pressure Jordan, mainly the economic conditions and the stability of the Kingdom amidst a turbulent region, said the writer.

Some say that escalating against Israel will reduce Jordan’s influence in sensitive issues related to Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque, and will lead Europe not to communicate with Amman that, the latter, adopts rational and diplomatic channels while administrating its foreign policy with the West in particular, added the columnist.

It is really unknown how Jordan will continue the same political campaign of communication with Europeans and others, while already aware that Israel does not care, said the writer. 

The output of annexing areas in the West Bank will ultimately lead to the end of the Palestinian state project, the collapse of the Palestinian National Authority, the cancellation of the right of return, localisation of refugees and creating a population problem that needs an alternative administration, said Abu Tair.

Jordan has wide expectations that His Majesty King Abdullah hinted at during his interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, where he said that the collapse of the Palestinian National Authority will create more chaos and extremism in the region, and Israel’s annexation of parts of the West Bank will lead to a big clash with Jordan, added the columnist. 

His Majesty’s remarks included dangerous hints that he said for the same time, mainly while he spoke about the clash and other options if the annexation happens, said the writer, wondering about these options that only include now the cancellation of the Wadi Araba agreement.

Observers and analysts do not expect reaching the limit of cancelling the agreement for considerations related to the Amman-Washington ties, from one side, and the political, security and economic costs of such a step, added the columnist.