Obama - dancing with the devil in the West Bank

The answer is to be found in the history, geography and demography of “Palestine” in particular:

• that Transjordan comprised 78 per cent of Mandate Palestine from 1920-1946;
• that Transjordan occupied the West Bank in 1948;
• that the West Bank was unified with Transjordan on the East Bank in 1950 and the name Transjordan was then changed to Jordan;
• that the two united banks of the River Jordan constituted a single territorial entity from 1950 until Israel conquered the West Bank in 1967; and
• that West Bank Arabs enjoyed equal civil rights with East Bank Arabs as Jordanian citizens until 1988.

These facts certainly appear to have escaped President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Special Envoy George Mitchell. Maybe they are totally ignorant of them. Amayreh certainly isn’t.

For the wrong reasons Amayreh has nevertheless postulated the right direction which must be taken to resolve the current conflict - the division of sovereignty of the West Bank between Israel and Jordan.

This solution is readily achievable by redrawing the boundary between these two successor States to the Mandate that already possess sovereignty of 94 per cent of Mandate Palestine between them.

What of the PLO and its offspring - the Palestinian Authority (PA) - the “johnny come lately” organisation cobbled together in 1993 under the now thoroughly discredited Oslo Accords?

Amayreh pulls no punches when he points out:

The PLO used to be a true representative of the Palestinian people. But this was when the PLO still retained it national chastity. Now, in my opinion, the PLO lost much if not all of its national honour, if only by indulging in manifestly treasonous acts such as the so-called security coordination with Israel. Some Palestinians are already calling the PA, the daughter of the PLO, a Palestinian “judenrat”.

On the PA being a corrupt organisation - Amayreh is equally critical:

For the Palestinian Authority to truly and sincerely fight corruption, it would have to demolish the entire Palestinian Authority apparatus because corruption, in its various forms, is the other side of the Palestinian Authority regime. In fact, there is an umbilical relationship between the Palestinian Authority and corruption. This might sound as an exaggeration to many, especially in the West. But this is taken for granted here. In short, corruption infests every aspect of the Palestinian Authority so much so that only a thorough and complete overhaul of the Palestinian Authority would stem the plague of corruption.

There is no love lost between Amayreh and the PA. On January 22, 2009, Amayreh was arrested by the police force of the PA. He was questioned and imprisoned in a blacked-out room for two days.

Are these views of such a rabid American and Jew hater likely to influence a change of direction by America and Israel? Only time will tell.

President Obama - and the Quartet - would do well to heed Amayreh’s message as the path to resolving the current impasse - even though the devil himself is dancing there in the detail.