Jordan’s former foreign minister has told Middle East Eye that Arab countries need to abandon the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
“Practically, that is not going to take place,” Marwan Muasher, who also served as Jordan’s deputy prime minister and opened the kingdom’s first embassy in Israel in 1995, said of the two-state solution in a video interview with Middle East Eye.
The ex-diplomat, who is now vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said it should be replaced with a “rights-based approach in which the departure point should be equal rights between Israelis and Palestinians”.
“Then one can start talking about what shape of a solution we can arrive at. But any solution that does not involve equal rights is not going to be sustainable in my view.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Muasher said Jordan is very concerned that Israel intends the forceful transfer of large numbers of Palestinians to the kingdom.
“Jordan has always been concerned that Israel’s aim ultimately is to have mass transfer of Palestinians outside of Palestinian territory,” he said.
“Whereas that position was that of fringe groups in Israel 30 or 40 years ago, today they are part and parcel of the Israeli government.”
“The Israeli government is saying every single day that what they want is an Israeli state from the river to the sea, so that really is Jordan’s worry,” Muasher added.
“What we have seen in Gaza is an example not just of killing Palestinians but of making Gaza uninhabitable and trying to affect a mass transfer of Palestinians into Egypt.”
Jordan sees this kind of situation being replicated in the West Bank, the former foreign minister said.
“Jordan is equally concerned that what is happening today – not in the future – in the West Bank, might be a prelude to a mass transfer of Palestinians into Jordan.”
He said that Israeli settlers, “with the support of the Israeli army, are engaged in ethnic cleansing activities in Area C of the West Bank – this is 60 percent of the West Bank – trying to drive them out of where they live… This is of real concern for Jordan.”
A former ambassador to the United States, Muasher was sharply critical of the role played by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has visited the Middle East 11 times, promised a ceasefire, then delivered nothing.
“The Israeli position is so far off from the Palestinian one that a ceasefire cannot come about,” Muasher said.
“Israel basically wants Hamas to release all the hostages and then to go after Hamas and kill them. Whereas Hamas says we will release all the hostages but in return for a permanent ceasefire,” he added.
“Netanyahu’s objective is to prolong the war for as long as he can. He does not care about the hostages. He is riding high in the polls.”
Muasher said that Israel’s war on Gaza had radicalised Jordanians and people across the Arab world.
“Today no one wants to talk peace. Today, a majority of people now think the only way to end the occupation is through armed resistance. And that has never been the case, even among Palestinians,” he said.
