Biden opens UN door to Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution
President Biden has seemingly indicated that he is now prepared to consider backing the normalisation of relationships between Israel and Saudi Arabia – if both acknowledge they favour implementing any solution – other than Biden’s preferred two-state solution – to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This breakthrough came when Biden stated:
“There are a number of types of two-state solutions. There’s a number of countries that are members of the U.N. that are still — don’t have their own militaries. Number of states that have limitations. And so I think there’s ways in which this could work.”
Previous to this statement – Biden had embraced only one two-state solution – proposed by the United Nations in Security Council Resolution 2334 on 23 December 2016, calling for the creation of a Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan.
Resolution 2334 had only been adopted because the outgoing Obama-Biden US administration had abstained – rather than vetoed – Resolution 2334.
Then Secretary of State – John Kerry – had explained the reasons for the Obama-Biden abstention:
“… the vote in the United Nations was about preserving the two-state solution. That’s what we were standing up for Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, living side by side in peace and security with its neighbours. That’s what we are trying to preserve for our sake and for theirs…
… Today, there are a number – there are a similar number of Jews and Palestinians living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. They have a choice. They can choose to live together in one state, or they can separate into two states.”
On 8 June 2022 the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) came onto the international stage – proposing a radical solution that trashed the two-state solution espoused by Resolution 2334 – calling instead for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one single territorial entity to be called “The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine”
HKOPS author – Ali Shihabi – an advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – subsequently approved an article written by me – before its publication on 14 August 2022 – stating HKOPS:
- “would supersede two previous Saudi peace proposals in 1981 and 2002 calling for Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank
- The two-state solution – the creation of a separate Palestinian Arab State between Jordan and Israel promoted unsuccessfully by the United Nations for the last 29 years – is consigned to the diplomatic graveyard
- Amman, not Jerusalem, will be the capital of The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
- The right of return to Israel is abandoned.
- Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and stateless refugees get full citizenship in the merged Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine with all the elements of sovereignty applicable to those Territories that belonging to a fully recognized state in the UN entail.”
The Security Council – and President Biden – have not mentioned HKOPS as a possible replacement for Resolution 2334 in the 19 months since HKOPS publication.
Biden’s latest statement has now opened the door to HKOPS being discussed at the United Nations as a possible solution to ending a conflict which threatens to rapidly escalate and career out of control in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Iran – following Gaza’s invasion of Israel on 7 October 2023 and the ensuing still-unresolved Israel-Gaza War.
Implementing HKOPS – without including Gaza – would offer Gaza’s residents the choice of voluntarily moving from Gaza and resettling in the newly-created Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine created by the merger of Jordan and part of the West Bank.
The Security Council needs to urgently consider HKOPS to replace its own 2016 failed two-state solution.
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.
David Singer is a Sydney lawyer and a foundation member of the International Analysts Network
In principle it sounds like a great idea but it does not solve the age old culture, and even more evident since start of Israeli/Hamas war, of antisemitism and its seemingly forever risk of Jewish harm and/or annihilation in the diaspora.
Please let me know of a better solution that can be implemented at this critical stage to try and end the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict. The UN should be addressing this solution as a matter of extreme urgency. I have been personally urging it to do so for the last 18 months. Have never received a response. Maybe Biden’s statement will get a reaction from the UN.
This is a brilliant idea. It offers something new, which result in a significant state, with a Palestinian majority and the opportunity to escape the inevitable cycles of despair and move forward. It will require inspired leaders to make it happen.
Roger Mendelson. roger@rmendelson.com.au
No matter what, the previous 2 state solution is never going to happen. A new paradigm is needed. Especially at this time. Thanks for raising the awareness of this innovative option David.
Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman have been in secret negotiations for months. I feel reasonably confident that implementing this plan would be part of their discussions. Obviously the events of October 7 and the Israel-Gaza War have given a new sense of urgency to these negotiations. They need to step up to the plate very soon before things get completely out of control. Biden has helped them immeasurably with this latest statement.