After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, there have been multiple reports that Jordan might be next.
On December 15, 2024, World Israel News issued a report that Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar and the head of Israel’s Intelligence Directorate (AMAN), Major General Shlomi Binder, secretly visited Jordan. Shin Bet is Israel’s version of the FBI.
This wouldn’t be the first time the Hashemites have been driven from power. During World War I, the British helped the Hashemites break apart the Ottoman Empire during the Great Arab Revolt (1916-1918)
In 1916, Hussein ibn Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, became the King of Hejaz.
In 1921, Hussein’s son, Abdullah, became the Emir of Transjordan. In 1946, Abdullah became the King of Jordan after the country achieved its independence from the British.
King Abdullah’s brother, Faisal, became the King of Iraq and Syria.
The Hashemites were overthrown from Syria in 1920 and Iraq in 1958. The Saudi royal family eventually conquered the Hejaz in 1925.
The Hashemites cannot control Jordan indefinitely. According to the Congressional Research Service, “Jordanians of Palestinian origin make up an estimated 55% to 70% of the population.”
From 1970 to 1971, Jordan’s King Hussein violently suppressed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and other terrorist groups, because they threatened the monarchy’s power. As Bashar al-Assad learned in Syria, a minority cannot oppress a majority forever.
In Jordan’s 2024 parliamentary elections, the Hashemites gerrymandered their parliament in urban areas, where most Palestinians reside. According to Reuters, “More than two thirds of Jordanians live in cities but are allocated less than a third of assembly seats.”
It is time to reconsider the role of Jordan in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jordan should integrate Gaza, Areas A and B of the West Bank, and parts of Area C into a Palestinian state.
In return, Israel should annex all of Jerusalem and at least half of Area C. My views are similar to President Donald Trump’s 2020 plan where Israel annexes its settlements and the Jordan Valley.
There are approximately 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank. Most of them live in Areas A and B, which is approximately 40% of the West Bank.
In Area C, there are approximately 500,000 Israelis and 300,000 Palestinians. The Israelis and Palestinians live in different parts of Area C.
The Jewish people must also have unfettered access to important religious sites in the West Bank, including the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem, Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, Jericho, Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.
A confederation between Jordan and the West Bank is actually a very old idea. From March 1972 to September 1973, Jordan’s King Hussein met with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir six times to discuss a confederation plan.
King Hussein officially renounced Jordan’s claim to the West Bank on July 31, 1988. Today, the Palestinians in Jordan need reunification to put pressure on the monarchy to reform.
Either Jordan will become a constitutional monarchy, like the United Kingdom, or this monarchy will eventually cease to exist. The Hashemites will have to choose between an evolution towards a Palestinian democracy or a violent revolution.
The Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza could benefit from Jordan’s political institutions. They could provide the foundation necessary for viable governance, especially when compared to Hamas.
Hamas’ 1988 Charter explicitly calls for the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews. This genocidal charter quotes Hasan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”
In 2017, Hamas supplemented the charter with a new genocidal document to soften its image. In Article 20, “Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”
In the 2017 document, Hamas tried to be genocidal from a national perspective, but not from an entirely religious perspective.
In 1944, Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide. His definition was later adopted in the U.N. Genocide Convention (1948).
According law professor William A. Schabas, “The crime of genocide is defined in Article II, the provision that sits at the heart of the Convention. Genocide is a crime of intentional destruction of a national, ethnic, racial and religious group, in whole or in part.”
Civilian casualties should be minimized, but they are inevitable in any conflict, especially since Hamas uses human shields. There is no moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
In 2014, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We're using missile defense to protect our civilians and they're using their civilians to protect their missiles.”
After Hamas is defeated, the Palestinians can build a prosperous, and democratic, Palestinian state in Jordan, Gaza, and parts of the West Bank.
Robert Zapesochny is a researcher and writer whose work focuses on foreign affairs, national security and presidential history. He has been published in numerous outlets, including The American Spectator, the Washington Times, and The American Conservative. When he's not writing, Robert works for a medical research company in New York. Read Robert Zapesochny's Reports — More Here.