If anything can be said about the inhabitants of the many refugee camps in Jordan it is that they have shown remarkable resilience in the face of unspeakable injustice. The people at Gaza camp are warm and welcoming, albeit curious. Numbers haunt the life of every refugee; on one hand, there are passport numbers, national identification numbers, and social security numbers that are denied to them. On the other hand, you have the statistics that their lives have been reduced to: 24,000 refugees, 2,000 makeshift shelters, 50% unemployment, 0.75 square kilometers.
Jordan
Jordan’s King Abdullah II: “Jerusalem is a red line and the world should not be silent about Israel’s attempts to get rid of Jerusalem’s Arabs residents, Muslims or Christians,” the king told visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, according to a palace statement.
The diplomatic stalemate and the provocations by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in East Jerusalem harm not only the chance for peace in the future but also past fruits of peace. Fifteen years after the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan was signed, the two countries are now deep in a crisis the government is doing nothing to resolve.
The crisis with Jordan is much less public than the one with Turkey, but it is far more acute and stands in deep contrast both with the warm relationship of Netanyahu’s predecessor, Ehud Olmert, with the king, as well as Netanyahu’s close connection to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
The Amman prosecutor general on Wednesday agreed to open an investigation into a complaint against Israeli politicians over statements suggesting that Jordan become an alternative homeland for Palestinians, activists said.
Jordanian King Abdullah II on Monday advised Israel to stop “playing with fire” regarding the future of Jerusalem. “Jerusalem is a red line and Israel must internalize the importance the city holds for Arabs and Christian Muslims, and stop playing with fire,” said Abdullah.
King Abdullah II: “We are seeing problems in Jerusalem that will directly destabilize not only the relationship with Jordan – which has a special concern and role in Jerusalem that is recognized in the peace treaty – but will also create a tinderbox that will be a major flashpoint throughout the Islamic world.”
King Abdullah: “Is Israel going to be fortress Israel or is it going to be part of the neighborhood? Because if there is no two-state solution, what future do we all have together?”
“It has done big damage,” says Mamdouh Abbadi, a member of the Jordanian parliament who has been among the most vocal in calling for government action against the proposal. “Even if it’s not passed, when 53 members of the parliament [Knesset] accept this law in the first reading, this is very important. We can’t think it’s just for show; it’s the real thinking of the Israeli parliament and they represent the people.”
Reviewing Kill Khalid: The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas by Paul McGeough, Adam Shatz provides an excellent historical review of Hamas: tracing its history and Israel’s role in helping it become a prominent power in the Palestinian social and political arenas.
