Should Israel give King Abdullah, the ruler of Jordan, a veto over her intention to implement her sovereignty in all Israeli settlement in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley? Yesterday, in an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel, Abdullah threatened: "If Israel really annexes the West Bank in July, it will lead to a massive confrontation with the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan."
On Monday morning, news outlets said "senior officials" in white and blue want to condemn the implementation of the sovereignty plan in advance of Jordan's approval. And during his entry into the post of foreign minister, Gabi Ashkenazi said that Israel will promote the Trump plan "in dialogue with our neighbors, while maintaining peace agreements. And the strategic interests of the State of Israel. "
In conjunction with morning reports, Ashkenazi's comments raised the possibility that he and his partner, Defense Minister and Prime Minister Benny Gantz, consider Abdullah's threat a reason to abandon their agreement to support the sovereignty program. If so, are they right?
The Der Spiegel correspondents asked whether Abdullah would respond to the implementation of the sovereignty plan in suspending the peace agreement. His answer was: "I don't want to threaten or create a clash of atmosphere." Or in plain Hebrew: "No way."
Israel is the key to stability
Abdullah will not cancel the peace agreement because the agreement is the key to the survival of his regime. Israel holds Jordan financially through the water and gas it supplies to the kingdom. The United States holds Abdullah through the US troops stationed in Jordan regularly and through $ 1.8 billion in annual aid.
This does not mean that the state of Israel-Jordan relations is stable. An absolute majority of Jordanians hate Jews, no public support for the peace agreement with Israel, on the contrary. Nor is there much public support in the royal house. It may very well be that one day Abdullah will be ousted, and the regime that inherits it will cancel the peace agreement. Israel's proper response to this situation does not abolish the implementation of the sovereignty plan that stabilizes its political and security status vis-à-vis Jordan, including by perpetuating our control of the eastern border.
The correct response to this situation - and it persisted even before the sovereignty program was born - is to prepare detailed plans for the day after the Hashemite regime.
Ashkenazi rightly praised Israel-US relations. "The United States is the closest ally and the most important member state of Israel," he said. To preserve this relationship, Ashkenazi and Gantz must abide by the word Gantz gave President Trump when he visited the White House in January. There, according to a senior U.S. official, Gantz pledged to implement the Trump plan - including the sovereignty program. Attempting to hang on to Abdullah's threat to reject its implementation will hurt Israeli-US relations.
Ashkenazi said that through his peace plan, President Trump "presents us with a historical opportunity to shape Israel's future and its borders." King Abdullah and his idle threats must not be allowed to stand in our way at this time.
