King Abdullah II, take back your citizens

By Leonard Grunstein

(JNS) As I viewed the recent press conference with Jordanian King Abdullah II and President Donald Trump, I couldn’t help but reflect on the history of Jordan and the king’s namesake and great-grandfather, Abdullah I.

After Jordan illegally conquered Judea and Samaria, including the eastern portion of Jerusalem, in 1948, it sought to legitimize its conquest of these areas, which it proceeded to rename the West Bank of Jordan.

On Dec. 1, 1948, it organized a conference in the town of Jericho that was attended by representatives of numerous constituencies within these areas. Among them were the mayors of Hebron and Bethlehem, and together with the other attendees adopted what became known as the Jericho Resolutions. The proposals confirmed the desire of the Arab residents of the so-called West Bank to be immediately annexed to Jordan. Subsequent conferences occurred in Ramallah and then Nablus, which declared their support for the resolutions.

Thus, instead of seeking to have an independent state in the areas Jordan conquered and occupied, the Arab residents ceded any rights they may have had to Jordan. The Arab (not Jewish) residents of these areas were granted Jordanian citizenship, including voting rights, in December 1949. Indeed, Jews were forcibly expelled from these areas, their homes were seized and synagogues demolished.

The Arab residents of the so-called West Bank participated in the Jordanian Parliamentary elections of April 1950 and were equally represented in the parliament. On April 24, 1950, the newly elected parliament, noting it represented both the eastern bank of the Jordan as well as the western one, formally approved the annexation of the areas of Judea and Samaria conquered by Jordan, including the eastern part of Jerusalem. It unified them into the single state of Jordan, as confirmed by the then-king of Jordan, Abdullah I.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recognized Jordan’s sovereignty over these areas. It expressly provided in Article 24 of its original Charter of 1964 that it exercised no sovereignty over the West Bank that belonged to Jordan. Interestingly, it also expressly declared it exercised no sovereignty over Gaza. Its professed twin goals were Arab unity and the destruction of Israel.

Therefore, whatever rights Arab residents of Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem may have had to assert any claim to sovereignty over these areas were fully vested in Jordan. Even the PLO acknowledged that these rights were ceded to Jordan.

Like any other sovereign state, Jordan could negotiate and barter away the sovereignty over any of its land. Thus, when it entered into a Treaty of Peace, dated Oct. 26, 1994, with the State of Israel and, in Article 3, demarcated the international boundary between Israel and Jordan as the Jordan River, it effectively ceded sovereignty over its former western bank to Israel.

In this regard, the provisions of Article 2, Section 1, are particularly cogent. It requires each party to recognize and respect the other’s sovereign territorial integrity and political independence. Thus, Jordan recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the land within its borders, which is demarcated as the Jordan River by the treaty, as noted above. Section 2 of Article 3 of the Treaty declares this boundary is the permanent, secure and recognized international border between Israel and Jordan. There is no explicit carve-out for any claim of sovereignty by the so-called Palestinians to the West Bank.

The Treaty, in Section 3 of Article 3, goes on to say the parties recognize the international boundary and each other’s territory, territorial waters and airspace as inviolable, and agree to respect and comply with them. Furthermore, Section 6 of Article 3 provides that each party is to deploy on its side of the international boundary upon the exchange of the instruments of ratification of the treaty, which occurred during King Hussein’s first official visit to Israel, on Nov. 1, 1994 (after approval by the Israeli Knesset and ratification by Jordan’s Chamber of Deputies). Once again, it should be noted that these sovereign rights are not made subject to or otherwise expressly qualified by any claims of the so-called Palestinians.

Moreover, under the Jordanian Nationality Law of 1954, any person who possessed Palestinian nationality (other than Jews) before May 15, 1948, and was a regular resident in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between Dec. 20, 1949 and Feb. 16, 1954—or whose father holds Jordanian nationality—is deemed to be a Jordanian national. Notice the express exception for Jews.

The Israeli victory over Jordan in 1967 enabled Israel to liberate Judea and Samaria. Under international law, as embodied in the 1920 San Remo Declaration—unanimously adopted by the League of Nations in 1922 and reconfirmed by the 1924 Anglo-American Treaty—it was and shall remain an integral part of Israel. Jews began once again to live in Judea and Samaria, as they were legally entitled to do historically and under these foundational international treaties and laws.

While Jordan has been making efforts since 1988 to revoke the citizenship of many of its citizens living in Judea and Samaria, it is not at all clear that this is legally permissible. Furthermore, there appears to be no legal impediment to reinstating the citizenship purportedly revoked.

It’s time for King Abdullah II to allow his citizens to come home and resettle in Jordan proper. The charade of governance by members of the PLO, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas and the alphabet soup of other organizations that purport to comprise the terrorist-supporting kleptocracy, known as the Palestinian Authority, must be ended. “Pay for slay” is just one example of how nothing has changed. It’s all just clever window-dressing. The P.A. doesn’t want to live side by side in peace with the Jewish State of Israel but to destroy it.

It is delusional to believe otherwise and those who ignore reality do so at their peril. Whether Hamas in Gaza, the P.A. in Judea and Samaria, or Hezbollah in Lebanon, the terrorist threat is real and abiding. Wishing it away or pretending it doesn’t exist is not a real plan of action. It’s time to overcome the challenge by eliminating the source of the problem.