Jordan's King Abdullah warns of 'massive conflict' if Israel annexes West Bank

Authored by middleeasteye.net and submitted by aegon-the-befuddled
image for Jordan's King Abdullah warns of 'massive conflict' if Israel annexes West Bank

Jordan's King Abdullah II has warned that the Israeli government's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank could lead to "massive conflict" and said his kingdom is "considering all options," including freezing or cancelling its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

"I do not want to make any threats and create an atmosphere of controversy, but we are considering all options," King Abdullah told the German magazine Der Spiegel, when asked about the possibility of cancelling the Wadi Araba treaty.

Jordan shares 335km of borders with Israel and the West Bank, and its security coordination is highly treasured by Israel's military and intelligence.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's incoming coalition government is expected to make moves towards imposing sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory, likely with US backing.

The areas mooted for annexation amount to around one-third of the West Bank and include a 97km stretch along the border with Jordan.

What would happen if the Palestinian Authority collapses? There would be more chaos and extremism in the region - King Abdullah

"We agree with many countries in Europe and with the international community that the law of the fittest should not apply in the Middle East,” King Abdullah said, adding that he sees the two-state solution as the "only way for us to move forward here".

King Abdullah wondered about the fate of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

"What would happen if the Palestinian Authority collapses? There would be more chaos and extremism in the region. If Israel really annexed the West Bank valley in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan," he said.

In December, Jordan's military conducted a drill simulating a foreign invasion coming from the western mountains where the kingdom shares a border with Israel.

King Abdullah and Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz, along with MPs and senior military officers, attended "Karameh Swords 2019," the codename of the drill, eliciting alarm from the Israeli media at a time of rising tensions.

The West Bank's Jordan Valley is rich in minerals and agricultural soil and is a highly strategic area that lies on the Jordanian border.

Historically, Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) guerrilla fighters operated in the Jordan Valley to launch armed attacks on Israeli settlements before the PLO was kicked out from Jordan into Lebanon in 1972.

TheDustOfMen on May 15th, 2020 at 22:00 UTC »

Since the peace treaty, relations have been relatively stable (emphasis on 'relatively') between these two, which Israel sorely needs in the region. But this warning is definitely not the first aimed at Netanyahu.

Jordan's previous king threatened to cancel the treaty before, and while he initially supported Netanyahu over Shimon Peres, he quickly regretted that:

My distress is genuine and deep over the accumulating tragic actions which you have initiated at the head of the government of Israel, making peace -the worthiest objective of my life- appear more and more like a distant, elusive mirage. I could remain aloof if the very lives of all Arabs and Israelis and their future were not fast sliding toward an abyss of bloodshed and disaster, brought about by fear and despair. I frankly cannot accept your repeated excuse of having to act the way you do under great duress and pressure. I cannot believe that the people of Israel seek bloodshed and disaster and oppose peace. Nor can I believe that the most constitutionally powerful prime minister in Israeli history would act on other than his total convictions.

This could've been written yesterday instead of 23 years ago.

Threatening a massive conflict, however, is something else entirely, though I'm sure Netanyahu doesn't care very much at this point.

MackTO on May 15th, 2020 at 20:49 UTC »

But Jared's peace plan?

Naive-Purchase on May 15th, 2020 at 20:41 UTC »

The king of Jordan is one of the more level headed people in the region, and one of the only Arab leaders with good relations with both Israel and the Palestinians. Its not a bad idea to listen to him when he talks.