Jordan to revoke citizenship of PA, PLO officials

[dead0man]

link

In a surprise move, Jordan has decided to revoke the Jordanian citizenship of Palestinian Authority and PLO officials, sources in Amman disclosed Wednesday.

The sources said that the decision would also affect the leaders of the PA, who would be granted temporary Jordanian passports to facilitate their travel.

The move coincides with a new electoral law in Jordan that seeks to limit Palestinian representation in parliament.

The latest steps are seen in the context of Jordan's 1988 decision to sever all legal and administrative ties with the West Bank, except for Jordanian sponsorship of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

The late King Hussein then justified the move by arguing that it was intended to help the Palestinians establish their own independent state.

The Jordanians have defended the decision to strip Palestinians of their Jordanian citizenship by explaining that it is aimed at "preserving the Palestinians' national identity and paving the way for their return to Palestine."

It's not known at this stage if PA President Mahmoud Abbas would be stripped of his Jordanian citizenship, the sources told the Saudi newspaper Al-Madina.

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A certain ...ahem...regrettable event in the past was sparked by a move with similar motives 42 years ago.  This probably won't lead to that, but it is interesting.

[politicus]

Its a shame because the only really viable long term solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict is a Palestinian dominated Jordan/West Bank federation. A Palestinian state on the West Bank alone is not really a realistic option. The Jordanian monarchy and traditional elite are in denial about their country being a de facto Palestinian state. Demographics don't lie and it's too late to change the facts on the ground.

[dead0man]

And maybe at one point in time that was a possibility (and may be again in the future), but the PLO and friends have been a constant thorn in the side of the Kingdom.

[True Federalist]

Arabic Transjordan and Zionist Cisjordan may have been the original two-state solution, but it's not going to work now, even if it ever could have.

[politicus]

Arabic Transjordan and Zionist Cisjordan may have been the original two-state solution, but it's not going to work now, even if it ever could have.

Thats always been a naive idea. But a Palestinian state on both sides of Jordan could work if the monarchy were replaced with a democratic republic controlled by the Palestinian majority. It will take a revolution in Jordan of some kind to achieve it, but it would change Palestine from a quasi-state squeezed between hostile Israel and suspicious Jordan to a viable entity with some control over its own destiny. Hard to see it happening, but that goes for all possible solutions to that particular coflict.

[asexual trans victimologist]

Do you not think a Hashemite monarchy would have legitimacy in, say, a constitutional monarchy controlled on the parliamentary/Government level by the Palestinian majority? If so, why do you think that? I'm not terribly familiar with this subject.

[ingemann]

Arabic Transjordan and Zionist Cisjordan may have been the original two-state solution, but it's not going to work now, even if it ever could have.

Thats always been a naive idea. But a Palestinian state on both sides of Jordan could work if the monarchy were replaced with a democratic republic controlled by the Palestinian majority. It will take a revolution in Jordan of some kind to achieve it, but it would change Palestine from a quasi-state squeezed between hostile Israel and suspicious Jordan to a viable entity with some control over its own destiny. Hard to see it happening, but that goes for all possible solutions to that particular coflict.

Seeing as the Jordanian monarchy is one of the stabilising factors of the region, it seem rather counter-productive to replace it with a Republic. Beside that the Jordanian including the descendants of the Palestinian refugees has shown little wish for a reunification with the West Bank, as such I find it rather mean to force such a union on them. In fact the major supporters of such a plan are among the Israeli (because it would leave someone else to clean their mess up), it have little support elsewhere.

[politicus]

Do you not think a Hashemite monarchy would have legitimacy in, say, a constitutional monarchy controlled on the parliamentary/Government level by the Palestinian majority? If so, why do you think that? I'm not terribly familiar with this subject.

There is a deep distrust towards the Hashemites among Palestinians. They are seen as the representatives of the descendants of the original Bedouin population in Jordan and working against empowerment of the Palestinian part of the population. The Black September massacre in 1970 alone would make it impossible for the Jordanian royal family to become the leaders of a Palestinian dominated state.

[asexual trans victimologist]

My issue with that would be that it would essentially end any political or ceremonial power that the Bedouins have in any of the Arab states, unless in some alien space bats-level turnaround the Hashemites were restored in Iraq or deposed Saud and became the new Custodians, which...isn't happening, I should think. Unless there is some other Bedouin-dominated country that I'm not aware of being such.