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Dr Khairi JanbekCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaDr Khairi JanbekCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabiaCrossFireArabia
The death toll has risen to nearly 90, including 25 children, following the horrific Israeli massacre in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, according to local sources. The majority of the victims are from the Abu Nassr clan.
Dr Khairi Janbek
By Khairi Janbek
In order to reinforce the concept of the unity of the two banks, which was reaffirmed at the Cairo Arab Summit in 1970, and in order to placate the rising Palestinian sentiments, King Hussein unveiled on 15 March, 1972, his United Arab Kingdom Plan (UAK).
In an address to the nation on that day, the late King elaborated on the proposed plan, as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan would, after the withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank, become the United Arab Kingdom comprising of two regions: First: Region of Palestine ie. West Bank and any future territories to be liberated and whose inhabitants opt to join in, with Jerusalem as its capital. Second: Region of Jordan, is East Bank and its capital Amman.
Furthermore, Amman would be the administrative capital of both regions. The King would be the head of state. There would be a local parliament and local government for each region, as well as a federal government and a parliament. There would be one federal supreme court and one army.
The late King added, this arrangement is his preference, though he intended to give the Palestinians, after liberation, the opportunity to determine their own future, and pledged to respect their choice.
Despite the fact that this plan was only a proposal, it drew violent reactions from the PLO as well as the Arab states who all in the 1970 Arab League Summit reaffirmed the unity of the two banks.
The late Mr. Yasser Arafat considered the plan a mere ressurection of Jordan’s long standing policy of insisting that the West Bank was an integral part of Jordan, and the Palestinians residents were Jordanian citizens. He considered that, a real threat to his own claim of representing the Palestinian people.
The late president Sadat of Egypt wanted to identify his own regime with the Palestinan cause, and announced before a cheering crowd at the Palestine National Council (PNC) meeting in Cairo on 10 April 1972, the break of diplomatic relations with Jordan. Syria, in order not to be upstaged by Egypt, cut diplomatic relations with Jordan and closed its borders.
Significantly the Plan remained under consideration until the Rabat Arab Summit of 1974, when the Arab states decided the sole representative of the Palestinian people should by the PLO.
The Rabat Summit forced Jordan to withdraw from direct involvement in the peace process at the time when the eyes of the whole world and the attention of the USA, were focused on the settlement of the Arab-israeli conflict.
The Rabat decision confused the issue. Instead of concentrating on the basic problem of Israel’s occupation of Arab lands, the questions of Palestinian national rights and independent Palestinian state were introduced. The nature of the problem changed overnight.
Jordan tried to seperate the issue of withdrawal from the issue of national rights of the Palestinian people. Jordan stood for the ending of the Israeli occupation of all Arab lands; occupied after 1967 war, establish peace and then address the question of Palestinian national rights within the context of inter-Arab relations.
But the Arabs states supported the claims of the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, and the PLO leadership was not prepared to accept Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank in favor of Jordan, fearing that would prevent it from attaining its goal; Creation of an independent Palestinian state.
The various Arab states supported the PLO for their own reasons, and were totally content to dump the Palestinian problem on the shoulders of the PLO.
The Late President Sadat and ex-US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, exploited the PLO’s position and the Arab support to it, and manipulated events in order to enable Egypt to sign a separate peace with israel.
The Rabat decision which neutralized Jordan’s role, and paved the way for Egypt’s separate peace with Israel, enabled Tel Aviv to tighten its grip on the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
Developments since Rabat have shown that, Jordan’s position for a comprehensive peace settlement with Israel, would have been the best chance for a lasting peace. A chance dashed in Rabat.
Dr Khairi Janbek is a Jordanian writer based in Paris and the above opinion is that of the author and doesn’t reflect crossfirearabia.com.
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The Israeli army has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in northern Gaza, forced half of the population to flee from bombardments, and left the other half trapped without water or food for nearly three weeks, the Palestinian Civil Defense announced on Sunday.
Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Palestinian Civil Defense, said in a video shared on social media that the Israeli army has killed over 1,000 Palestinians during its three-week-long military offensives in northern Gaza, which are still ongoing.
“More than 100,000 Palestinians in the areas of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia are suffering from an Israeli siege and bombardment, while the other half of the population, which numbered around 200,000, has been forcibly displaced towards Gaza City, the closest governorate to the north,” Bassal told Anadolu.
He continued: “The Israeli army is killing anyone who tries to provide aid to the Palestinians trapped in the northern Gaza Strip, who are suffering from a lack of water, medicine, and food.”
“The Israeli occupation is practicing a policy of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza amid international silence,” Bassal lamented according to Anadolu.
He urged international and humanitarian organizations “to work immediately and urgently to save the Palestinians in northern Gaza.”
The Israeli army has continued a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since a Hamas attack last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
Nearly 43,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 100,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the territory’s entire population amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
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Military expert Colonel Hatem Karim Al-Falahi said the Israeli occupation’s entry into southern Lebanon must be understood within the directions “previously set by Hezbollah in its defensive plan for any ground battle.” He also listed the reasons for the high losses among the Israeli forces.
Al-Falahi said the defensive operation is important in military sciences as it means waiting for the enemy to find a better opportunity. He indicated this operation must take into account the nature of the changing reality, and respond to all possibilities, either completely or partially.
He pointed out the Israeli high losses in southern Lebanon are due to several reasons, including the nature of the geography, which is different from the battles of the Gaza Strip. This is in addition to the deployment of military teams exhausted by the fighting in the streets, homes and neighborhoods of Gaza, he maintained.
Weak
Al Falahi on Al Jazeera explained that the combat capabilities of the Israeli military “appear weak in an environment friendly to Hezbollah fighters that has known defensive arrangements for a long time.”
He pointed out five Israeli military divisions are participating in the ground incursion operations in southern Lebanon: 210, 98, 91, 36, 146, and each division includes more than one military brigade, and according to military standards has more than 10,000 soldiers.
The occupation’s losses in Lebanon has come as a result of the direct clashes and/or targeting with artillery or mortar shells on the border strip with Hezbollah fighters, starting from Ras al-Naqoura to the Shebaa Farms.
The occupation has revealed that 88 Israeli soldiers were injured in the battles in Lebanon in the past 48 hours, while Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi acknowledged that Israel is suffering “heavily and painfully”.
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CROSSFIREARABIA – Gaza has long become a bloodbath for journalists and the death toll doesn’t seem to be stopping.
Three journalists were killed in Gaza, Sunday evening, increasing the number of dead since 7 October, 2023, to 180 according to the Gaza Media Office.
They are Saed Radwan, head of Digital Media at the Al Aqsa Channel; Hamza Abu Salmiya of the Sanad news agency and Hanin Mahmood Baroud of the Al Quds Foundation.
Their death was the a result of an Israeli airstrike at a school-turned-shelter in western Gaza.
The three were killed in the Israeli bombing of Al Asmaa School in the Al Shaati refugee camp were four others were martyred include the child Zeina Saeed Al Ghoul, Shoaib Al Hadeed, Ahmad Shoaib Al Hadeed, Saja Ahmad Al Atal and Nidaa’ Al Atal.
The Gaza Media Office appealed to the world community and press organizations to intervene “to deter the occupation and pursue it in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and pressure it to stop its ongoing genocide and the killing of Palestinian journalists.”
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