(MENAFN- Jordan Times) The immediate rejection by the Israeli government of the Agreement of Reconciliation between Fateh and Hamas, on October 23, is a necessary step towards the establishment of the Palestinian state; at the same time, it revealed the equal necessity of providing the feasible way to achieve it.
That the Egyptian government sponsored the agreement was helpful: its treaty of peace with Israel gives it leverage and influence, should it wish to use it.
The association of the Jordanian government with the agreement would make that leverage more effective and decisive.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu feels comfortable with the American designation of Hamas as a terrorist organisation, but this time the fear of being cornered placed him in a difficult spot; he relies on what he hopes is US President Donald Trump's indefatigable support for his intransigent policies, but there are constraints to which even Trump must respond.
The president has set his heart and his son-in-law's future on an Israel-Palestine peace that he will not wish Netanyahu to torpedo; and, more importantly, he has engaged his government and American forces in the conflict in southern Syria, in which the Jordanian government plays a key role.
Like Egypt, Jordan has signed a peace treaty with Israel. The cornerstone of that treaty was that it would be completed by the inclusion of the Palestinians, not on Jordanian soil, but on the pre-1967 Palestinian territories.
This is also the policy of Saudi Arabia, Trump's closest partner on the Arab scene.
The geopolitical and economic clout of a combined Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi strategy to achieve the goal of two-states on the soil of Palestine would certainly outweigh any sentimental feelings of obligation to maintain a shaky Netanyahu regime that the volatile president may harbour.
The inclusion of Jordan in any hope of achieving the internationally recognised solution of a Palestinian state on Palestinian soil is now necessary, and equally urgent.
The writer, former professor at AUB, is a self-employed writer and observer of Middle East events. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.
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