Jordan enclave in West Bank could be Trump’s 'two-state' solution

Creating another Palestinian Arab state - in addition to Jordan - has been seemingly consigned to the garbage bin of history following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's CNN interview on 28 September.

President Trump had just told Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly:

I like two-state solution. I like two-state solution. That's what I think works best. I don't even have to speak to anybody, that's my feeling.

When asked if he was prepared to commit to a two-state solution - Netanyahu told his CNN interviewer:

I've discovered that if you use labels you are not going to get very far because different people mean different things when they say states. So rather than talk about labels, I like to talk about substance

Questioned on what he would like to see - Netanyahu replied:

What I would like to see is that the Palestinians will have all the powers to govern themselves and not all the powers that will threaten us. What that means is that in the tiny area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – it's all about 50 kilometres wide – that's where the Palestinians live and the Israelis live – in that area under any peace agreement or without a peace agreement – Israel has to have the dominant power, the military power, overriding security power …

Netanyahu then stressed:

Israel has to have the overriding security, not the UN, not Canadian Mounties, not -- I don't know -- Austrian or Australian forces -- Israeli forces have to have the security control, otherwise, that place will be taken over by Islamist terrorists, either Daesh, ISIS or Hamas or Iran, all of the above, and that's my condition.

Trump's upcoming peace plan slated for release in 2-4 months needs to deal with Netanyahu's concerns if it is to win Israel's backing.

Israel's security demands would best be satisfied by part of the West Bank being reunified with Jordan to create a Jordanian enclave in the West Bank – with the remainder of the West Bank being annexed by Israel.

This solution would enable Israel to: