Adam Garfinkle and I took aim at this argument in 1988 in a long Commentary article, "Is Jordan Palestine?" (And then in a brief National Interest piece, "President Arafat?") This weblog entry keeps an eye on the fancy that refuses to die. For starters, Sarah Honig, "(Trans) Jordan is Palestine," revives the semi-moribund Jordan-Is-Palestine thesis today in The Jerusalem Post. (August 6, 2009)
June 20, 2010 update: Geert Wilders has endorsed the J-i-P argument, as reported by Yedi'ot Aharonot:
Jordan is Palestine. ... Changing its name to Palestine will end the conflict in the Middle East and provide the Palestinians with an alternate homeland. ... There has been an independent Palestinian state since 1946, and it is the kingdom of Jordan." Wilders also called on the Dutch government to refer to Jordan as Palestine and move its embassy to Jerusalem. ...
Jordan's minister for media affairs and communications, Nabil Al Sharif, asked for clarifications. He described Wilders' declaration as "an echo of the voice of the Israeli Right" and "crows' screams. ... Jordan is an independent and secure country which supports the Palestinian issue, and these imaginings of finding them an alternate homeland are nothing but the delusions of a few people."
Apr. 23, 2011 update: My former colleague Asaf Romirowsky writes today in "Revisiting the Jordan option" that recent tensions in Jordan could revive the Jordan option.
Amid the unrest now sweeping the Middle East, Israeli government and security officials are quietly discussing an unusual strategy that would pass the Palestinians' political future off to Jordan. With the odds of a negotiated two-state solution at an all-time low, former Defense Minister Moshe Arens, Knesset Member Arieh Eldad, and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin resurrected the "Jordan is Palestine" model for regional peace.
He concludes that, "as uncomfortable as it might be for Palestinians, Israelis and Jordanians to admit, the Jordanian option might be the best one they have."
Mar. 15, 2012 update: The Palestinian Authority's "prime minister" Salam Fayyad announced at a meeting with Jordanian parliamentarians that "Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine."
Apr. 23, 2013 update: Daniel Tauber offers a rare vote of agreement today that the Jordan-is-Palestine idea is a bad one in "Should Jordan be Palestine?" Two key paragraphs of his fine analysis:
The "Jordan-is-Palestine" plan is ... a right-wing fantasy which mirrors the left-wing fantasy of the "two-state solution." Both are based on the assumption that if the Palestinians had a state of their own, the conflict would cease, Israel would capture the moral high ground and the fundamental perception of the conflict would shift, that it would become be a run-of-the mill territorial dispute between states, etc.
The right-wing version, however, is more hypocritical as its proponents recognize something their leftwing counterparts fail to: that the creation of a Palestinian state in the "West Bank" would not lead to an end of the conflict or improve Israel's diplomatic position. Despite this recognition, the Jordan-is- Palestine proponents pursue in the east bank the very logic they rightfully reject with regard to the west bank.
Oct. 2, 2016 update: The Palestinian intellectual Sari Nusseibeh has endorsed the Jordan-is-Palestine idea.
Aug. 21, 2019 update: Lo and behold, a Saudi writer, Abdul Hameed Al-Ghabin, has endorsed the Jordan-is-Palestine idea in an Israeli publication:
How can we achieve peace if the Palestinian people remain without a place to call home? The answer is simple: Jordan is already 78% of historical Palestine. Jordanians of Palestinian origin are more than 80% of the population according to US intelligence cables leaked in 2010.
Jordan is essentially already the Palestinian Arab state. The only problem is, the king of Jordan refuses to acknowledge this. Nonetheless, the world will eventually recognize Jordan as the place for Palestinian statehood. It could be sooner than we think.
Comment: I hope this author is an actual Saudi.
