Doctor of Historical
Sciences, Professor Kozhakhmetov K.K., Askarov
A.A.
Al-Farabi Kazakh
National University
Israel and Jordan: A LONG ROAD TO
PEACE
Relevance to the promotion of the Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement
forces to pay attention to the politics of Arab States, to some extent involved
in the negotiation process and to influence the situation on the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip. One of the regional actors is the Hashemite Kingdom. The
combination of geographic and demographic factors influence the policy of Amman
on Israeli track, sets the stage for dialogue in Jordan and Israel, and
requires consideration of the position of the Hashemite Kingdom of
international co-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement (the U.S.,
Russia, EU and UN). The more that Jordan is the second Arab country after Egypt
concluded a peace treaty with Israel.
In order to trace
the long and difficult road to peace between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom
of Jordan from the start, you need go back to the time of emergence of
the kingdom, rather, public education. Prior to World War I in Jordan was part
of the Ottoman Empire. In 1916, the Arab bedouin living in the territory,
revolted against Turkish rule. Britain, who came here with France place of
Turkey, has sought to establish in the region, a number of small
semi-independent states under its protection. On the recommendation of the then
Minister Lawrence colonies of Great Britain, Winston Churchill agreed with the
proclamation of the Emir Abdullah of Transjordan in 1921.
In 1917was
published "The Balfour Declaration", which promised the establishment
in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. At
the intersection of these two historical streams and there were the first
contacts between the leaders of the Zionist movement and the representatives of
the Hashemite dynasty. Emir of Transjordan agreed to support the "Balfour
Declaration" if the Zionists recognize him ruler of Palestine. This
proposal Weizmann politely declined, but contacts between the leaders of the
Jewish Yishuv and Amman continued. During the contact, he offered to give
autonomy to the Jews in the future, "the Semitic kingdom," which
would include Transjordan and Palestine . This, of course, was not acceptable
to the Zionist leaders who dreamed of an independent Jewish state.
After the Second World War, in 1946,Abdullah was proclaimed King of
Transjordan. At the same time the question of a Jewish state was on the agenda.
The UN partition plan was worked out former Mandatory Palestine between a
Jewish and an Arab state. This plan does not satisfy any of the parties to the
conflict, adopted the Jewish Yishuv leadership, headed by Ben-Gurion and firmly rejected by the Arab world. In
1947-1948 between the Yishuv and Transjordan is an intensive contact, though
secret. The leaders of the Zionist movement, tried to persuade Abdullah to
agree with the emergence of the Jewish state. In addition, they were interested
in the fact that the division of the Arab part of Palestine it captured
Abdullah. Similar idea they tried to seduce Abdullah.
Army of Transjordan - Arab Legion - considered the most efficient of all
the Arab armies. Arab public opinion vigorously pushed the king to war with the
Jews - otherwise he risked being declared a traitor. The latter, a dramatic
attempt to avoid the collision occurred in Amman. Golda Meir came there,
dressed in Arab dress. King Abdullah said that he refused their earlier
promises, because he himself is not the owner ,have too much pressure on him,
Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and other countries. He proposed to divide Palestine
and go back to his old plan. For Jews granted wide autonomy in parts of
Palestine, and a year later created one with Transjordan state in which the
Jews set aside half of the seats in parliament and government. This proposal of
course could not be accepted Jewish leadership [1].
After the Revolutionary War, April 3, 1949 on the island of Rhodes was
signed first truce between Israel and Transjordan, fix created by a fighting
position. Throughout all of the fifties
clashes on the Israeli-Jordanian border were common as permanent shootings in
Jerusalem. In 1957, Yasser Arafat created in Jordan militant Palestinian
organization Fatah, which later, in 1964, became part of the PLO. However, the
situation remained relatively stable. The present crisis in relations between
the two countries began in 1967, during the Six Day War, the Jordanian army,
participated in the attack on Israel was defeated in two days and Jordan lost
the territory of Jerusalem and the West Bank [2].
Started a new period in relations between the two countries. "The
Palestinian Factor" again took center stage in the political life in
Jordan. Palestinian militant organizations sharply increased their activities
in the Kingdom, making it their camps and training bases. They strove to
conduct "guerrilla war" against Israel from these bases. In fact,
these organizations have turned into "a state within a state" in
Jordan [3].
Such cases are caused strong resentment of King Hussein. He did not want
to put up with any limitation of sovereignty. Summer of 1970 the situation
has deteriorated in Jordan. Palestinian formation behaved defiantly, trying to
demonstrate to the population that they the owners of the country. This caused
indignation army circles. In September Hussein ordered his troops to curb
Palestinian organizations. Hostilities broke out, during which were destroyed
between 1500 and 2000 Palestinian militants. These events are then received the
name of "Black September."
In the 1973 Yom Kippur War broke out. This time, the success of Arab
armies in the early days of the war are real and quite impressive. However,
King Hussein decided to be cautious. Besides, he was annoyed by the fact that
the leaders of Egypt and Syria made him aware of his military
plans. Jordanian army at this time and did not participate in the fighting.
This once again put Hussein into a state of isolation in the Arab world. In
October 1974, the conference of Arab States in Rabbath recognized PLO as the sole
legitimate representative of the Palestinian people [4]. The solution, of course, not happy King Hussein. We should say that
in the 70's - 80's, he unofficially has repeatedly expressed interest in
maintaining stability in the Israeli-Jordanian border. Indeed, this boundary
remained calm throughout it. He sought to negotiate a peace agreement.
In 1992 won the elections in
Israel Labour Party and became Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. His campaign
platform is made of serious progress toward peace with the Arabs in all
directions. In 1993, contacts between Israel and the Palestinians in the
signing of the Oslo Accords to end the conflict between the two peoples.
October 26 in 1994 between Israel and Jordan signed a formal peace
treaty. The signing ceremony was held on the shores of the Red Sea, between the
Jordanian Aqaba and Israeli Eilat. Except Prime Minister Rabin and King Hussein in a ceremony attended President Clinton and Russian Foreign
Minister Kozyrev. And about five thousand people [5].
Agreed to fix the two sides recognized the border line between Israel
and Jordan. Israel handed over the sovereignty of Jordan strip of land width of
1-2 km throughout the borders from Dead Sea to the Red Sea, and a small area in
the north of the common border, near Naharai. Jordan from own part gave the
right to Israeli farmers for 25 years to handle areas. After that, to be held
separate talks on the future of the territories. Thus was created an important
precedent. In Israel, an agreement was almost unanimous approval of all the
factions in the Knesset.
Signing the a peace agreement, the Jordanian side expects to receive
large dividends from increased trade with Israel, the development of joint
economic projects and the influx of Israeli tourists to the country. However,
the stagnation of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in the second half of
the 1990, as well as the negative attitude of the population to Jordan signed a
peace treaty with Israel, while the Palestinian issue remains unsolved, has led
to hopes that the Jordanian leadership to achieve a breakthrough in relations
with Israel were not justified.
In 1999 February 7 died King Hussein of Jordan, who ruled the country
from 1953 and who was one of the most influential Middle East politics. Throne
was succeeded by his 37 years old son Abdullah [6].
In the period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations
during the premiership of Ehud Barak Jordan's role was limited mainly to
support the peace process. Jordan endorsed signed on 4 September 1999 in Sharm
el-Sheikh Israeli-Palestinian "Memorandum to phase translating defaults on
previously signed agreements, as well as the resumption of final status
negotiations" for the conclusion by September 2000 comprehensive
Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. Previous monarch spent decades creating a
unified Palestinian-Jordanian state. Even after the peace treaty with Israel,
Jordanian political circles not to discard the idea of a
Jordanian-Palestinian confederation. Policies pursued Abdullah II testified
waiver to the Palestinian territories and East Jerusalem. So the beginning of
the reign of King Abdullah II has shown that his policy towards Israel and the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict is somewhat different from the course of the late
King Hussein.
Which began the end of September 2000, the Al-Aqsa Intifada resumed
Israeli-Palestinian armed resistance, as it is adversely affecting the
socio-economic situation in Jordan. To change the situation, the two most
interested ones to the events in Palestine, the Arab states Egypt and Jordan have
developed a plan resumption of Palestinian-Israeli peace process. It was narrated by Sharon in
mid-April 2001 Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdullah al-Khatab, who visited
Israel (it was the first visit to the Arab minister in Israel since the
beginning of the Intifada). Sharon government's response on the
Jordanian-Egyptian proposal was muted because Israel is not satisfied with any
terms of negotiations, no demands to stop the construction of settlements and
execute a memorandum signed in Sharm el-Sheikh. Tel Aviv wanted the
Palestinians to have graduated from the intifada, but at the same time aware of
the weakness of the administration of Yasser Arafat and its inability to halt
the terror. These considerations have forced the Israeli leadership to rely on
their own strength and to act unilaterally. Common are the military operations
of the Israeli army in the occupied territories in response to the widespread
use of Palestinian factions terrorist methods of struggle. This led to the
growth of radicalism in Palestinian society, increasing role in the conflict of
extremist organizations, in particular Hamas and the "Islamic Jihad."
In these circumstances, King Abdullah II during his talks with the heads of the
U.S., Russia and European states urged to put pressure on the Israeli side to
get it to stop military operations in the Palestinian territories, and urged
the United States and Israel have not ignore Arafat as a negotiating partner .
In this regard, Jordan was a welcome extension of the collective
international plan of gradual settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
"quartet" of international mediators in the U.S., Russia, the EU and
the UN. "Road Map", launched on 30 April 2003 and phase the Palestinians
and Israelis from violence, a resumption of negotiations, the final
determination of the status of the occupied Palestinian territories and the
conclusion of a peace treaty to 2005.
"Road Map" was adopted the Palestinian Authority, but the
Israeli government is still not complying with the provisions of the settlement
plan, related to the Palestinian Authority the responsibility for the security
of Israel. In the autumn of 2003. became clear that the conditions of the
"Road Map" is not executed by both parties.
The turning point in the development of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
was died on 11 November 2004 Yasser
Arafat. He was replaced by Mahmoud Abbas a moderate leader, tuned to the
resumption of negotiations with Israel, and reforms in the Palestinian Authority
controlled territories. In January 2005 Abbas won in the election of the
president of the PA. Jordan with optimistic about the change of power in
Palestine, believing that could
contribute to the implementation of the "road map." In coordination
with the U.S. President George Bush, the King of Jordan in 2005. active contact
with the Israeli and Palestinian sides to establish a dialogue between them.
Elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council were held on 25 January 2006 and,
despite the forecasts of analysts, the victory they won the Islamists, who won
74 parliamentary seats, while Fatah received 45 seats in the Palestinian
parliament [7]. During 2006 Hamas and
Fatah's attempts to halt the fighting between them and form a government not
led to the desired result. The greatest success in this direction has been made
in the talks in Mecca, Abbas and H.Mashalya brokered by Saudi Arabia's King
Abdullah. According to their results on February 8, 2007. signed "Mecca
Agreement", under which the parties pledged to stop fighting and form a
national unity government of representatives of Hamas, Fatah and the
"independent" headed by Ismail Haniyeh - one of the leaders of Hamas
in the Gaza Strip. Also, Hamas and Fatah have agreed that a Palestinian state
should be established on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 including
East Jerusalem, but in a document to sidestep the issue of recognizing Israel,
Hamas and the Oslo Accords.
Abdullah II expressed the hope that the new Palestinian government
recognizes the requirements of the "quartet" and the Arab peace
initiative of 2002. But the escalation of violence in the Palestinian
territories and the seizure of power by Hamas in mid-June 2007. Gaza has led to
the fact that Jordan's efforts to obtain from the Palestinian and Israeli
governments recognize the Arab peace initiative, has become irrelevant. In
order to discuss the situation, Mubarak, Abdullah II, Olmert and Abbas met in
Sharm el-Sheikh on 25 June 2007. The meeting supported Abbas and his
administration as the only legitimate authority in the PA. After the summit in
Sharm el-Sheikh on the activity of Jordan was aimed at facilitating the
implementation of the U.S. initiative to convene a major international peace
conference on the Middle East conflict, which took place in late November 2007
in Annapolis (USA). During the meeting it was decided to resume
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on a final peace settlement and to conclude a
peace treaty by the end of Bush's term as president in January 2009 .. However,
the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli issue during President Bush
turned to failure. Because of that, part of southern Israel suffered mortar and
rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which led to the beginning of the military
operation under the name "Cast Lead." A similar situation occurred in
2012 and began operation on November 14, "Pillar of Defence ". The
purpose of the operation - "drawing a meaningful impact" on the
military infrastructure of Gaza's ruling Islamic radical movement Hamas. On the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed that the
U.S. supports Israel's right to defend itself [8]. November 29, 2012 The UN
General Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favor of raising the status of
Palestine to observer State. Made against the U.S. and Israel, which were
supported by all seven countries. Palestinians hope that the change of status
will quickly resolve the protracted conflict in the Middle East, but Tel Aviv
and Washington believe that this is possible only by direct talks between
Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Change in status will allow Palestine to
participate in the debate in the UN General Assembly, and also increases the
probability of working in various agencies in the United Nations and the International
Criminal Court. " General Assembly reaffirms the right of the Palestinian
people to self-determination and independence in his state of Palestine in the
Palestinian territory occupied since 1967" - said in a UN General Assembly
resolution [9].
Meanwhile, March 3, 2013, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Amman
with King Abdullah of Jordan. As reported by the Israeli media, citing
diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, during the visit, the path of progress of
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. During the meeting, the Prime
Minister and the Jordanian king discussed the prospects of the Middle East
diplomatic dialogue [10].
During the meeting, March 4, 2013 U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry
and the PA leader Abbas in Riyadh chapter of the American foreign minister was
handed a memorandum to the requirements, without which the PA will not agree to
resume peace talks with Israel: 1) Transfer under complete PA control territory
in the "West Bank." 2) Emancipationa large group of "Palestinian
prisoners" from Israeli jails. 3) Transfer of large quantities of arms,
"the Palestinian security forces." 4) Removal of restrictions on the
movement of Palestinian residents on the "occupied West Bank." 5) The
significant increase in economic aid to the PA by Israel.
Official Jerusalem has not yet responded to the message, although
representatives of the Palestinian state that the main points of the memorandum
has already been handed over to the Israeli leadership of King Abdullah of
Jordan [11].
Thus, a characteristic feature of the Jordanian policy toward Israel
during the reign of King Abdullah II is the desire for the preservation of
peace, dialogue to address the issues of bilateral cooperation and conflict in
Palestine. The unsettled Palestinian-Israeli conflict can fully realize the
potential of the Jordanian-Israeli cooperation, especially in the economic
sphere. The conflict in Palestine and imposes certain restrictions on the
Jordanian policy, and therefore, according of King Abdullah II, the parties are
not ripe for closer cooperation yet. In the course of the Israeli-Palestinian
peace settlement Jordan works very carefully and try to perform a mediation in
order to stop the Palestinian-Israeli violence and bring the parties back to
negotiations. Solution regional problems and above all the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, according to the current Jordanian leadership that create conditions
for a qualitatively new development in the region, the Jordanian-Israeli
relations and support the integration of Israel in the Middle East.
Literature:
1. Г.Меир. Моя жизнь: Автобиография. – М., 1993. –С. 196-198.
2. Л.И.Медведко. К Востоку и Западу от Суеца.- М., 1980. -С. 99.
3. Г.Киссинджер. Дипломатия. - М., 1997. –C. 671.
4. Арабо-израильские войны. Арабский взгляд.-М., 2008.-С. 173.
5. А. Рубби.Палестинский марафон. Editori Ruiniti, 1996.-С. 320.
6. Қ.Қожахметұлы, Ә.
Шөпеков.
Шығыстың тарихы және халықаралық
қатынастар. –Алматы, 2009.-С. 220.
7. Қ.Жүніс. Таяу Шығыстағы
жанжалдарды реттеу мәселелері. – Алматы, 2010. –С. 16.
8. http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/content/world-israel-palestinian-conflict-obama-opinion/1548432.html
9. http://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2012/11/30_a_4873773.shtml
10. http://www.cursorinfo.co.il/news/novosti/2013/03/03/netaniyagu-tayno-posetil-iordaniyu/
11. http://www.zman.com/news/2013/03/05/146448.html?p=5