The case for regime change in Jordan

Nowhere is the rule of a minority over the majority more blatant than in Jordan.

By Y.A. AMISHAV
jordan honorary beduin guard 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
jordan honorary beduin guard 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The popular uprisings, in various Arab states, which were hailed by the pundits as the “Arab Spring,” were directed against despotic rulers, who invariably represented a minority, either ethnic, religious, or army juntas.
These despots established dynasties which remained in power for decades. Their unmitigated ruthlessness and kleptocratic greed kept the vast majority of the population in a state of fear and subjugation, hunger and rage. The people invariably called for regime change.
Nowhere is the rule of a minority over the majority more blatant than in Jordan.
King Abdullah rules Jordan with the sole support of the Palestinian Beduin tribes, who constitute less than 30 percent of the population and who occupy all the top posts in the army and the government. He revokes at will the civic rights of the non-Beduin “Palestinians” – who constitute over 70% of the population – and treats them as second-class citizens in their own country.
Hashemite minority rule in Jordan has caused immeasurable world-wide repercussions and strife. It has been the root cause of the Palestinian-instigated Islamic global terrorist networks, against Israel, the US and the free world.
Most importantly, Hashemite minority rule has been the primary impediment to the solution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It is responsible for the myth that the Palestinian Arabs are “homeless” and that Israel must therefore be forced to accommodate yet another Palestinian state, in Judea and Samaria, Israel’s heartland, which encompasses a mere 5,000 sq.km. This constitutes not only a strategic threat to Israel’s security, but cannot possibly provide a viable homeland for the 13 million-14 million Arabs who call themselves Palestinians.
Were it not for the US’s pro- Arab, bungling policies, which have failed just about everywhere, and Israel’s blindness and erroneous policy of defending the Hashemites on the assumption that they keep Israel’s eastern border relatively quiet, the Hashemites would have ended up in the dust bin of history long ago. Furthermore, the Palestinians would have had their rights to self determination in Jordan, their already-existing state.
The main obstacle to the solution of the “Palestinian problem” and their claims to self-determination is the Hashemite minority rule, which denies them their basic rights, in their own state, which has existed since 1921.
IN 1919, in the wake of the dismantlement of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations mandated the British government to establish a Jewish National Home in Palestine, or the Land of Israel, which comprised the land on both banks of the Jordan river.
In contravention of international law, the British truncated 77% of Mandated Palestine and handed Trans-Jordan over to the chief of the Hashemite Beduin tribe, who was ousted from Arabia by the rival Saudis.
In 1954, Trans-Jordan was renamed “the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” but was recognized only by Britain and Pakistan.
Nevertheless, the British effectively established an exclusive Arab Palestinian state, from which all Jews were “transferred” and banned.
Before being called“Jordan,” Jordan was a part of Palestine.
Moreover, before being called “Jordanians” the Jordanians were “Palestinian Arabs” or “Palestinian Beduin.”
To this day, all those who call themselves Jordanians and all those who call themselves Palestinians are,by their own claims, one and the same people.
They have the same religion, the same culture, the same origins, and are often related.
In the War of Independence, the Jordanian Legion, led by British officers, occupied Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal capital, and Judea and Samaria, Israel’s historic heartland. The Palestinian Arabs were given Jordanian citizenship. In 1967, the Arab states again attacked Israel, and Israel liberated Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria from Jordanian occupation.
Until 1974, no Arabs claimed Judea and Samaria as a Palestinian state.
In 1988, King Hussein revoked the Jordanian citizenship of the Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria, without a single word of reproach from human rights groups.
THE US administration and the Europeans demanded that Israel defend the Hashemites and their minority rule of Jordan.
By saving the Hashemite dynasty, time and time again, Israel has taken on sole responsibility for the Palestinians’ “homelessness,” acting as an accomplice in its own demise.
The demands for Israel to withdraw to the 1947 “Auschwitz” demarcation lines in order to establish a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, Israel’s heartland, become shriller every day.
A Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, and overlooking Israel’s major population centers and strategic installations, would not only critically endanger the security of Israel, but would in no way resolve the problem of the roughly 13- 14 million Palestinians, the majority of whom would still seemingly remain stateless. Jordan’s total population is 7.2 million, who are either Palestinian Arabs or Palestinian Beduin, and who live on an area of 97,000 sq.km., four times the area of the State of Israel. Moreover, the majority of those who call themselves Palestinians live in Jordan, which by definition makes Jordan a Palestinian state.
Therefore, only regime change in Jordan and the departure of the Hashemites can resolve the claim of the approximately 14 million people who call themselves Palestinians for an independent state. If the international community genuinely wants to establish a viable Palestinian state, it is incumbent upon it to recognize de jure the de facto Palestinian State of Jordan.
It is reported that Abdullah has a plane full of gold in the compound of his palace, on the ready, just in case. May it be sooner rather than later!
The author is a Jerusalem-based writer and political commentator.