Trump & Bin Salman: Opt for the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
In a remarkable about face – Ali Shihabi – an advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – has abandoned his 2020 plan calling for a new political entity comprising Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to be created and named The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine (HKOPS).
Writing in the Washington Post on 17 June (before America’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities on 22 June) – Shihabi opined:
“The world should wait no longer to formally recognize the State of Palestine. This is not about sentiment or symbolism. It is about urgent, necessary action to rescue a peace process on life support. Recognition is a critical diplomatic tool to shift a stagnant and increasingly dangerous status quo.”
Shihabi concluded:
“Recognizing a Palestinian state is the last peaceful card the world has left to play. It must be played — before the entire table collapses.”
Shihabi is spouting utter nonsense.
HKOPS - with predetermined outcomes clearly enunciated in Shihabi’s proposal – trumps the “Palestinian state peaceful card” – pursued unsuccessfully by the United Nations for the last 58 years.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has deliberately buried any mention of HKOPS at the United Nations as an alternative solution to creating an independent State of Palestine between Israel and Jordan for the first time in recorded history.
The revolutionary features of HKOPS were listed in an article I wrote in collaboration with Shihabi in August 2022:
HKOPS would supersede two previous Saudi peace proposals in 1981 and 2002 calling for Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank
The two-state solution - the creation of a separate Palestinian Arab State between Jordan and Israel pursued unsuccessfully by the United Nations under the Oslo Accords for the previous 29 years – would be consigned to the diplomatic graveyard
Amman, not Jerusalem, would be the capital of The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
The right of return to Israel would be abandoned.
Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and stateless refugees would get full citizenship in the merged Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine with all the elements of sovereignty applicable to those Territories that belonging to a fully recognized state in the UN entail.
A real window of opportunity to end more than 100 years of conflict between Arabs and Jews has now arrived with the degrading and humiliation of Iran and its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis over the last 630 days of warfare.
Shihabi’s call for international recognition of the State of Palestine is destined to go nowhere – as Israel’s Knesset made clear on 19 July 2024:
“The Knesset of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel will pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region,”
A report suggesting Israel will declare its willingness for future Palestinian conflict resolution under the "two states" concept - contingent upon Palestinian Authority reforms – seems to be fake news - given the Knesset’s above stance.
HKOPS has never been expressly rejected by Jordan, Hamas or the PLO.
HKOPS (minus Gaza) can be achieved by redrawing the international border between Israel and Jordan in direct negotiations starting tomorrow.
Trump should be asking Shihabi and Bin Salman the following questions:
· Was HKOPS actually Bin Salman’s idea - as well as having Shihabi author it?
· Why did Shihabi dump HKOPS on 17 June?
· Has Shihabi’s view changed again since America attacked Iran on 22 June?
Two very different solutions have been presented by Shihabi.
Trump and Bin Salman should opt for Israel and Jordan negotiating to implement HKOPS.
David Singer is an Australian lawyer and political analyst.
