Biden in bind as Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution turns 1
President Biden must be feeling decidedly uncomfortable as the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) approaches its first birthday – with Israel and Saudi Arabia negotiating to possibly implement its terms – mediated by Bahrain – not the US.
HKOPS is a potential game-changing solution to end the 100 years-old Jewish-Arab conflict – its birth being first announced in the Saudi Government-controlled Al-Arabiya News on 8 June 2022.
HKOPS calls for Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to be merged into one territorial entity to be called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine – to be governed by Jordan’s current-ruling Hashemite dynasty – with its capital in Amman – not Jerusalem.
Significantly HKOPS trashes the United Nations decision on 23 December 2016 to create for the first time in recorded history an independent Palestinian Arab state between Israel and Jordan with its capital located in Jerusalem – after the outgoing Obama-Biden administration – in the act of vacating the White House – failed to veto United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 (UN two-state solution).
Seven years later this UN two-state solution remains unimplemented – ready to be consigned to the diplomatic graveyard with many other solutions that failed to end the Arab-Jewish conflict.
HKOPS has had a difficult first year – surviving attempts by Biden, the United Nations, the European Union, the international media and think tanks to bury it – by simply not acknowledging its existence or discussing it as an alternative replacement for the failed UN two-state solution.
Biden’s silence seemed justified when Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid declared at the United Nations on 22 September 2022 – HKOPS then being just three months old:
“An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel’s security, for Israel’s economy and for the future of our children,”
However, Lapid’s rival in the November 2022 Israeli elections – Benjamin Netanyahu – made a very different commitment to voters in October:
“The reality is that a third of [Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank], which includes biblical sites, strategic sites, and Jewish suburbs of our major cities, they’re going to stay in Israel no matter what. We’d like more – possibly everything – but that’s not the point. The point is everybody recognized this part will stay, so why not recognize it the way Trump recognized Jerusalem as our capital? And it’s been that way for 3,000 years since King David; so why not recognize this reality too?
“We had an agreement to do that. We didn’t surprise the president. We exchanged letters to that effect. On the eve of discussing the Trump plan, the president himself spoke about it. And then, not minutes later but a couple of hours later, I was surprised because this understanding didn’t hold. The American government backed off. You can ask them why they backed off. But I would still try – and I will try – to resume that course if I get elected, and to get America to recognize that this moves peace forward”
Netanyahu’s election as Prime Minister gives him the opportunity to honour his commitment by successfully implementing HKOPS – which provides the possibility for all of these areas – maybe more – becoming part of Israel – even as the current Biden administration continues Trump’s back-off by stubbornly supporting the UN two-state solution which cannot possibly produce Netanyahu’s desired outcome.
Biden wants to see a peace deal concluded between Israel and Saudi Arabia by the end of 2023. The chances of this occurring will be considerably increased if Biden breaks his twelve –months silence by backing the implementation of HKOPS and ditching the failed UN two-state solution.
David Singer is a Sydney lawyer and a foundation member of the International Analysts Network
Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”
Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades
bidden doesn’t have a clue. Its Obama messing everything up in the background. Hès for the Iranian Muslims.