Pages: 1 2
In a move that angered Palestinian-Jordanian further, the Jordanian government in recent years has stripped thousands of Palestinians of their Jordanian citizenship in an apparent response to calls to establish a Palestinian state in Jordan. This week, the Jordanian officials revoked the citizenship of PLO officials.
Mudar Zahran, a Palestinian-Jordanian writer who resides in Britain wrote in LiveLeak (March 3, 2012):
Abdullah should realize that Jordan’s Palestinians are fed up with him and his policies and that all of his anti-Israel talk will not deter them from joining the Arab Spring. Abdullah must know that the Palestinian majority in Jordan is more concerned with the daily bread they cannot afford and the dignity they no longer have because of a king who treats them as sub-human…Abdullah and other Arab rulers must realize that bashing Israel will not get them an Arab-Spring exemption.
On January 17, 2012, a group of Jordanian and Palestinian-Jordanians (members of an organization they formed called Jordanian Overseas National Assembly, aka “JONA”) demonstrated outside the White House in Washington DC. As reported by Hateen, a Jordanian news agency, they have demanded the end of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic, and wrote a manifesto that included such phrases as “we believe in Jordan, not the Hashemite family,” explaining that the Hashemites derived their legitimacy in Jordan primarily from being a Hijazi (Saudi Arabian) family related to the Prophet. Members of JONA claim that Jordanians, on the other hand, are more organic to the land of Jordan. Hateen, called the JONA declaration of principles the most dangerous political statement yet faced by the Hashemite Kingdom. Jordanian MP, Dr. Ahmed Oweidi Al-Abbadi, a controversial figure with strong tribal ties, is sympathetic to JONA’s positions. He has been recorded expressing his beliefs that King Abdullah II is “occupying the country.”
Palestinian-Jordanians abroad are coming to the realization that the current Palestinian leadership is leading the people towards a dead-end. The endless postponement of elections, the Fatah-Hamas rivalry, and the possible dismantlement of the Palestinian Authority, makes the idea of “Jordan is Palestine” both attractive and perhaps more realistic than ever. Without the royal family, Jordan would be a predominantly Palestinian state. And for the people associated with JONA, and the likes of Dr. Ahmed Oweidi Al-Abbadi, Jordan should be a republic not a monarchy.
In a column that appeared in Ha’aretz, an Israeli daily newspaper, on April 12, 2012, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated, “Discussion about Jordan as a Palestinian State is against Israeli interests and against reality.” However, should President Assad of Syria fall, King Abdullah II of Jordan may very well be next. And, given such a scenario, it would be an historic folly for Israel and the international community not to recognize that the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rests on Jordan becoming the Palestinian State.
Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click here.
Pages: 1 2




















