It would be great for Israel to get Egypt and Jordan to take them...back, but they won't
Reader comment on item: Jordan to the West Bank, Egypt to Gaza

Submitted by Charles Martel (United States), Jan 22, 2009 at 10:59

There is still absolutely no reason for the two Arab states to accept the Palestinians... as part of their already poor and restive populations, and the pro-Israel Senator Brownback's embrace of this desireable but hopeless idea doesn't make it any less hopeless.

As I said last week, Egypt and Jordan would like Israel to be wiped out, and taking responsibility for the ungovernable Palestinians would be a benefit to Israel and a huge detriment to themselves.

The only way I could see Egypt maybe taking Gaza back would be if we said "take it, or forget about the Camp David annual subsidy for putting up with Israel."

Likewise, I suppose it is possible that the Hashemite monarchy is so dependent on US goodwill and Israeli covert assistance that we could threaten to pull the plug, but you know that would mean a new "Black September" coup and Jordan becoming the toughest confrontation state, along with Syria.

An idea being desireable is totally unrelated to its possibility -- I'm sure we can all agree it would be great it Peanut M&Ms didn't have calories, but it doesn't move the ball one inch.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.