King Abdullah II (Jordan) - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Trump hosts Jordan’s king and renews insistence that the US can control and redevelop Gaza

ZEKE MILLER AND CHRIS MEGERIAN | AP News — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 22:29:46 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday and renewed his insistence that Gaza could be emptied of all residents, controlled by the U.S. and redeveloped as a tourist area — a plan that could likely only work if the Arab nation agrees to accept more refugees.

Trump and Abdullah met in the Oval Office, where the president suggested he wouldn’t withhold U.S. aid to Jordan or other Arab nations like Egypt if they don’t agree to dramatically increase the number of people from Gaza they take in.

“I don’t have to threaten that. I do believe we’re above that,” Trump said. That contradicted the Republican president previously suggesting that holding back aid from Washington was a possibility.

Abdullah was asked repeatedly about Trump’s audacious plan to remake the Middle East, but didn’t make substantive comments on it, nor the idea that his country could accept large numbers of new refugees from Gaza.

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Source: https://apnews.com/article/trump-abdullah-jordan-gaza-hamas-israel-1f3ef249419ce61fc5c0f41412c24cb0

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Iran could be planning a ‘surprise’ for Israel in Jerusalem – analysis

Seth J. Frantzman — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 13:56:16 +0000

Hamas and other extremist groups have encouraged Palestinian tensions with Israel in Jerusalem during Ramadan.

Israel is concerned about an incident in Jerusalem, and it could be planning a “major operation in a sensitive area near al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem,” Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported.

Iran termed this an “unexpected event.” This is language coming from senior Iranian media sources close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC backs Hamas.

Hamas and other extremist groups have encouraged Palestinian tensions with Israel in Jerusalem during Ramadan. There were clashes and Palestinian media incitement against Israel’s foreign minister and other leaders on Sunday night.

The familiar cycle of accusing Israelis of “storming” the Old City of Jerusalem is imminent. Hamas incitement claiming it has a “right” to fire rockets will soon begin. The goal is another war with Israel like last year, a conflict orchestrated by Iran to test new rockets and drones.

This could be the messaging behind the Tasnim article. Iran is outraged by the recent Negev Summit of Arab foreign ministers in Israel, and it needs to increase its profile in the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and the foreign ministers of the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt, in Sde Boker, Israel, March 27, 2022. (credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
Tehran wants to use Palestinian suffering to increase these profits. The profits for Iran are not necessarily financial, but rather using proxies against Israel.

Iranian media claim Israel is concerned that a new “operation” in Jerusalem could “bring a new wave of dangerous conflicts and will lead the Hamas movement and the [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad to a very bloody and serious reaction.”

Israeli media have indeed reported that Israel could be ready for another conflict of the sort that took place last year. The driver behind these conflicts is Hamas and PIJ, as well as Iran.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-703194

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Alarm in Jerusalem as Iran races to the bomb amid lull in nuclear talks

Lahav Harkov — Sun, 08 Aug 2021 13:47:27 +0000

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett blamed opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu for the advances in Iran’s nuclear program, soon after the news of Iran’s uranium metal enrichment was published.

A general view of the Bushehr main nuclear reactor, Iran — (photo credit: REUTERS/RAHEB HOMAVANDI)

Iran is taking advantage of the lull in nuclear talks with the US to get dangerously close to a nuclear weapon, and there must be a deadline to return to negotiations, Israeli officials have warned their American counterparts.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar have brought the matter up with their American counterparts, as well as in the European states party to the Iran deal, the UK, France and Germany, a senior source in Jerusalem said.

The ministers have asked what the Western states plan to do to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon now that it is closer to one than ever before.

Tehran has said it will not return to talks at least until after President-elect Ebrahim Raisi is inaugurated on August 5, nearly two months after the end of the sixth round of indirect negotiations between the US and Iran in Vienna, which are intended to restore the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Israel is concerned that Iran is using the “state of limbo,” as a senior diplomatic source called it, to reduce its breakout time for a nuclear weapon from about seven to two or three months while the International Atomic Energy Agency is not able to inspect the situation.

Then Iran could return to the negotiating table, having already achieved what it wanted on the nuclear front, while still demanding that the US lift sanctions, the source said.

Iran was endangering the chance of concluding an accord with world powers over reviving its 2015 nuclear deal if it did not return to the negotiating table soon, the French Foreign Ministry said Monday.

“If it continues on this path, not only will it continue to delay when an agreement to lift sanctions can be reached, but it risks jeopardizing the very possibility of concluding the Vienna talks and restoring the JCPOA,” or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll told reporters in a daily briefing.

Last week, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said Iran’s announcement that talks will be on hold until Raisi enters office “leaves us in a rather uncomfortable position.”

“We still have a number of questions, issues that we are trying to clarify with Iran, and we will have to wait and start anew with the new team when they are in office,” he told AFP.

Earlier this month, Iran told the IAEA it has taken steps to produce uranium metal enriched to 20% for use as reactor fuel. This brings Iran’s nuclear project to a more advanced stage than any country without nuclear weapons is known to have reached.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett blamed opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu for the advances in Iran’s nuclear program soon after news of its uranium enrichment was published.

Netanyahu was “prime minister for 12 years, up until a month ago, and his neglect was what allowed Iran to reach the most advanced point ever in its nuclear program… This is the inheritance Bennett received, and from here, he will navigate and fix it with all the tools he has,” a source in the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Rob Malley, the lead US negotiator with Iran, on Sunday confirmed Iranian statements that the Biden administration is prepared to lift all sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Asked if the US should lift sanctions first, he told MSNBC: “That deal has been more or less on the table,” and he cited statements by senior Iranian officials on the matter.

“If Iran wanted to see the sanctions lifted, it could have had them lifted in March, in April, May, June or July,” Malley said. “At all of those stages, the US offered [to do so]… in exchange for Iran coming into compliance” with the JCPOA.

US President Joe Biden “said very clearly that we’re prepared to come back to the deal if they’re prepared to do their part,” he said. “In other words, we’ll lift the sanctions if they’re prepared to come back into compliance with the nuclear constraints and obligations they signed up to in 2015.”

Malley criticized former US president Donald Trump for leaving the nuclear deal in 2018 and applying heavy sanctions on Iran.

“Three years on, I think the verdict is clear that America is less safe because Iran has a more expansive, clear program and because it has accelerated and intensified its regional activities – the very steps the Trump administration said it would tackle through its maximum pressure,” he said.

Iran is not only demanding the removal of sanctions; it seeks to include a clause in the new nuclear deal that would require the US to get UN approval before leaving the agreement again, The Wall Street Journal reported. That likely would be unconstitutional in the US, where a president cannot bind a future president or the Congress to a policy.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II gave a vague answer when asked by CNN on Sunday if he supported the Biden administration’s push to rejoin the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“There are legitimate concerns in our part of the world on a lot of portfolios that the Americans are hopefully going to be able to discuss with the Iranians,” Abdullah said, including issues of specific concern for Jordan.

“The nuclear program affects Israel as it does the Gulf,” he said, adding that the American and Iranian positions in the Vienna talks are “somewhat far apart.”

Abdullah cited efforts by the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to engage with Iran to lower tensions.

“Let’s hope that those talks get us to a better position where we can calm the region, because we have so many challenges,” he added.

Reuters and Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2021/06/13/1005724415/netanyahu-is-out-naftali-bennett-will-be-installed-as-israels-new-prime-minister

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How Jordan Is Endangered By The Deal Of The Century – Analysis

Ty Joplin - Al Bawab a News — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 02:26:57 +0000

Jerusalem at dusk.

The much-awaited “deal of the century,” a supposed peace deal between Israel and Palestine, has been delayed and disparaged as biased towards Israel to the detriment of Palestinians.

Though it’s true that leaks regarding various drafts of the deal involve softening but not ending the military occupation of the West Bank, the biggest loser from the deal may not be Palestine: it could very well be Jordan, which has a massive Palestinian population but has been sidelined from negotiations.

The government has been re-shuffled and purged, an ongoing political crackdown is underway, and protests against the deal fill the streets near the U.S. Embassy. Jordan’s government is hunkering down in anxious anticipation of the deal, and preparing for the worst.

For Jordan, the government’s legitimacy is on the line.

Built from a complicated socio-political arrangement between Jordan’s tribes, Palestinians, ideational/religious symbolism and good relations with the international community, the government’s mandate has taken decades to solidify into its current form.

The deal of the century threatens these aspects of its legitimacy, pitting Palestinians and tribes against one another, threatening to strip Jordan of its custodianship of Jerusalem’s Old City and alienating Jordan in the international realm as its neighbors seem more concerned with building a partnership with the U.S. and Israel than securing the rights of Palestinians.

Even if the deal is rejected and cannot be implemented, the process itself has already thrown Jordan in political turmoil as its social contract quakes.

Unsettling the Jordanian/Palestinian Balance

The relationship between the kingdom’s Palestinians and Jordanians is complex; layered by decades of shifts, new generations and refugee influxes. But one basic, defining factor outlines their different socio-political places: Palestinians dominate the private sphere, while Jordanians can almost exclusive access to the public sphere.

Official and accurate censuses on Jordan’s population are hard to come by, but by most accounts, Palestinians make up a plurality or an outright majority of the country’s population.

Despite this, it is the kingdom’s Jordanian population that wields the most political power of any bloc in the country thanks to the tribes, which initially acquiesced to the monarchy after Jordan’s independence in 1946. The Hashemite family, who currently rule Jordan but for centuries controlled vast territories (including Mecca and Medina, in what is today Saudi Arabia), have strived to maintain good relations with the country’s tribes.

The Fayez and Bani Hasan tribes, for example, are two of the most powerful, with Fayez tribesmen leading several of Jordan’s ministries and maintaining a strong presence in its Parliament while the Bani Hasan tribe is likely the country’s largest. Both have recently shown their ability to exert direct pressure on the King, bypassing official political means to do so.

More broadly, Jordanians, especially with ties to powerful tribes, can gain stable employment in the country’s ministries and directorates or in the police or armed forces. Palestinians on the other hand, by and large, are not able to join the public sector, and thus find employment in private enterprises.

The government’s careful political balance between the tribes and Palestinians is the result of decades of trial and error, teeter-tottering between both and struggling to pacify one while not giving the other disproportionate power so as to upset the other side.

The deal of the century threatens to break this fragile order.

Leaks from the deal show the Palestinian right of return will not be granted, dealing a huge blow to the decades-long struggle for Palestinians to return to their ancestral land.

“What we’re seeing from the plan is that it will blow up the Palestinians,” one Arab official explained to Reuters of the deal. “The plan doesn’t give justice to the Palestinians.”

“The Palestinian cause is being liquidated—no Jerusalem (as capital), no right of return for refugees, no sovereign state. That is why this American project is dangerous,” another senior Palestinian leader said.

Jordan has resisted fully integrating Palestinians into the political system, holding out the hope that a future right of return and two-state solution would give them statehood. But without this hope, Palestinians in Jordan may understand that their only option for political representation and securing civil rights will be to pressure Jordan to integrate them as political equals to Jordanians.

This threatens the hold Jordan’s tribes has on reins of power, and by extension, the careful set of tribal loyalties the monarchy has cultivated.

The King and the Custodianship

One of the most important positions the Hashemite family has internationally is its custodianship over Jerusalem’s Old City, the heart of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

The custodianship gives the Hashemite family an important place in the umma, the global Muslim community, and provides Jordan a practical role in Israeli/Palestinian peace negotiations including the deal of the century. By maintaining administrative power over the Old City and the holy sites therein, Jordan has a strong voice in determining the status of Jerusalem.

Jordan’s current King Abdullah II called the custodianship his country’s “red line” not to be crossed.

During a recent speech in Jordan’s Zarqa Governorate, the King publicly acknowledged that outside forces are pressuring him to relinquish that custodianship in the context of the deal of the century; a pressure the King is so far rejecting.

“I will never change my position toward Jerusalem in my life,” Abdullah said in his speech. “All my people are with me.”

Israeli politicians and analysts have suggested that Saudi Arabia is quietly seeking to replace Jordan as the custodian of the Old City, effectively giving Saudi a monopoly over Islam’s holiest cites: Mecca, Medina and the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

With that custodianship, Saudi would be given an even more outsized role in talks with Israel, and Jordan would be sidelined.

Moreover, the Hashemite family which has used its custodianship to signify its care for the Palestinian cause, would have to answer to millions of disempowered Palestinians powerlessly observing their chance for recognition disappear.

Saudi Arabia would likely not champion the Palestinian cause as stringently as Jordan has. Saudi’s crown prince even told Palestinians to accept the terms outlined in an eventual deal or “shut up.”

Jordan’s Lonely Place with Palestine

Jordan is one of the few Arab countries that can not afford to abide by the deal of the century and survive in-tact.

Unlike Saudi Arabia and Egypt, who both prioritize economic and security promises and have thus positioned themselves inside the Israeli/U.S. camp, Jordan is tied to the status of Palestine and Palestinians. Jordan has been forced to reject the trademark political project Trump has undertaken.

This has alienated Jordan from its two main allies: the U.S. and Saudi.

The pro-Israeli bias of the deal of the century is driving a wedge between Jordan and its allies, which may be forcing the kingdom to flirt with subtle re-alignments to protect itself.

This presents Russia with an opportunity to expand its regional influence in the Middle East and build a partnership with Jordan.

Russia appears to be quietly expanding its economic and political footprint inside Jordan, and Jordan has gladly accepted the solidarity Russia brings in denounces Israel’s expansion in the Golan Heights and violent activity in Gaza.

But even if Russia comes to Jordan’s aid on the international stage, it cannot make up for the powerful roles Saudi and the U.S. have had in granting Jordan a place in the global community.

Currently, the deal of the century is facing indefinite delays, as the latest election in Israel failed to produce a government. But Jordan is already on the losing end of the deal, even if it is never unveiled.

Absent a deal, Saudi could still oust Jordan from its custodianship and the U.S. could still back Israel to annex portions of the West Bank much to Jordan’s chagrin.

Jordan’s economy is faltering and the King is reportedly purging elements of his government that were pushing for Jordan to accept the deal.

Jordan is on the edge.

Original source

Source: https://www.eurasiareview.com/07062019-how-jordan-is-endangered-by-the-deal-of-the-century-analysis/

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Why declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital may upend peace in Middle East

Oren Dorell - USA Today — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 07:13:46 +0000

WASHINGTON — President Trump will announce Wednesday that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and will begin the lengthy process of moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Although the Israeli government would welcome the acknowledgement, Palestinians and other world leaders say the move would unhinge prospects for a Middle East peace accord.

The U.S. policy has long been that the ancient city’s status should be settled through negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Here’s how it could cause furor in the region and with U.S. allies:

Peace process

The Arab League and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warned the United States against recognizing Jerusalem, saying that could spark violence and set back future peace negotiations.

Abbas and others urged the White House to drop the proposal.

“Any American step related to the recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, or moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, represents a threat to the future of the peace process and is unacceptable for the Palestinians, Arabs and internationally,” Abbas said over the weekend, according to the official Wafa Palestinian news agency.

More: Jerusalem has history of many conquests, surrenders

More: Palestinians, Arab League warn U.S. not to recognize Jerusalem as Israeli capital

More: Kushner talks Middle East peace Sunday, not special counsel investigation

Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Trump called him Tuesday to say he wanted to move the embassy to Jerusalem, according to a statement by the Jordanian embassy.

Abdullah told Trump: “Jerusalem is key to achieving peace and stability in the region and the world,” the statement said. Such a decision “will undermine efforts to resume the peace process and will provoke Muslims and Christians alike.”

The head of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, warned of “repercussions” if the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem.

Israel regards Jerusalem as its capital, but the international community says the city’s status should be determined through peace talks. Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it.

Because of the dispute over the ancient city, the United States and other countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv.

Threats of violence

The U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem warned Tuesday of possible demonstrations in Jerusalem’s Old City and the West Bank on Wednesday and restricted government employees and their families from personal travel to those areas.

The State Department recently advised American diplomatic posts in predominantly Muslim countries to be vigilant about possible protests.

The militant group Hamas, which controlled Gaza from 2007 until October, called on followers to launch another uprising if Trump’s plan proceeds.

Declaring Jerusalem the capital “constitutes a blatant aggression against the holy city,” Hamas said in a statement. “We call upon our Palestinian people to remain steadfast in the face of such a decision.”

The State Department has declared Hamas a terrorist group.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman brushed off the threat this week, saying Israel’s military would “know how to deal with all the ramifications” of such a decision, according to The Times of Israel.

A new approach to peace?

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, has been negotiating a possible peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians. An agreement could pave the way for greater cooperation between Israel and the rest of the Arab world, Kushner said in rare public remarks Sunday at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum.

“Israel is a much more natural ally today than they were 20 years ago because of Iran and ISIS (Islamic State) extremism,” Kushner said. “If we’re going to try and create more stability in the region as a whole, you have to solve this issue.”

Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. peace negotiator and Middle East adviser to Democratic and Republican presidents, said the Trump administration’s approach could be to give Israel so much of what it wants that the nation would be forced to make important concessions.

Fuel extremists in the region?

Changing the status of Jerusalem — a holy city for Jews, Muslims and Christians — “would add to the narrative of extremists who want to paint the Western world in terms of a religious war,” said Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

“For the United States to weigh in so heavily on the side of the Israelis sends a message that the extremists would capitalize on,” Munayyer said.

Iran would also use the issue to advance its strength, making the country “more popular in the region at the expense of America’s allies,” Munayyer said. “I cannot think of anything short of sending Iranians arms and cash that would do more to boost the Iranians in the region.”

World leaders oppose recognition

Turkey, France and Germany, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and others also weighed in against any change in the U.S. policy on Jerusalem.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called such a move a “red line” for Muslims He said Turkey, a NATO ally, could respond by cutting diplomatic ties with Israel.

Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. partner in the Arab world, expressed its own “grave and deep concern.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said he reminded Trump in a phone call Monday that Jerusalem should be determined through negotiations on setting up an independent Palestine alongside Israel.

“Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel does not calm a conflict, rather it fuels it even more,” German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Tuesday. “It’s in everyone’s interest that this does not happen.”

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi talked with Trump on Tuesday, urging the U.S. not to change Jerusalem’s status. Sisi’s office said he also asked Trump to avoid any action that would undermine peace efforts.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/05/trump-recognizes-jerusalem-israel-capital/923059001/

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Report: Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in coming days

Itamar Eichner and Roi Kais — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 15:23:47 +0000

Two days after US VP Mike Pence says Trump ‘actively considering when and how’ to fulfil his campaign pledge of moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, reports surface that the US president is considering announcing his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as an interim.

US President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to announce in the coming days that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and is giving serious thought on how to fulfil his election campaign pledge to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

According to fresh information in Israel, Trump is giving greater thought to the idea due to domestic political considerations, primarily stemming from reinvigorated pressure by the Republican party and Evangelical Christians.

To that end, Trump and his staff are considering how to avoid signing for a second time the waiver that would leave the embassy in Tel Aviv.

President Trump’s visit to the Kotel (Photo: AP)

Presidents of both the Republican and Democratic parties have renewed the waiver every six months for years, enabling them to bypass a law that requires that washington order its Israeli embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Trump promised during his election campaign that he would move the US embassy “to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem.”

While hopes in Israel have so far been dashed that a US president would finally fulfil the embassy pledge, Trump has taken a number of steps that have constituted a departure from previous administration.

Most notably, in May Trump arrived at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, becoming the first sitting US president to visit the ancient Jewish holy site.

Close Trump associates have reportedly recommended that he make the announcement of transferring the embassy in the near future.

(Photo: AFP)

In the interim, one of the ideas currently being mooted is to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as a gesture for Israel’s 70th independence celebrations as a first step toward the administration’s announcement of its peace initiative between Israel and the Palestinians.

Hopes were raised in Israel this week when US Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday that Trump is actively considering “when and how” to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Pence made the comment in remarks at Israel’s Mission to the United Nations in Queens, at an event celebrating the 70th anniversary of the United Nations’ vote calling for the establishment of a Jewish state.

“President Trump is actively considering when and how to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” stated Pence, after receiving a standing ovation from the crowd.

Officials in Jerusalem say that the Americans are currently examining the ramifications of the recognition.

American intelligence circles may caution Trump against the move, warning of the security-related ramifications that could ensue and danger that it could pose to American embassies around the world.

Rumors of Trump’s planned announcement were met with warnings from Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who said during a visit to the US that “the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem at this stage will have repercussions in the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic scene.”

He also added that it would “endanger the two-state solution and could be potentially exploited by terrorists to stoke anger, frustration, and desperation in order to spread their ideologies.”

Source: https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5049989,00.html

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