Sunday’s
Aqaba security meeting, which brought together Palestinian and Israeli officials in a
rare publicized event, was held with quite the media fanfare — not all positive.
The one-day event, hosted by Jordan with the participation of US and Egyptian
senior officials, aimed at de-escalating tensions in the
occupied West Bank and
resulted in agreement on a number of confidence-building steps to contain the
cycle of violence that had been swelling since the start of the year.
اضافة اعلان
At the end of
the meeting, a joint communiqué was issued citing agreement on several issues,
including ending “unilateral measures for three to six months. T
his includes an Israeli commitment to stop the discussion of any new settlement units for four
months and to stop authorization of any outposts for six months.”
Furthermore,
the two sides (
Palestinian and Israeli) affirmed their commitment to all
previous agreements between them and to work towards a just and lasting peace.
They reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground and
to prevent further violence, according to the joint communiqué. According to
inside sources, two committees, one civilian and one security-related, are to
be formed, meaning that the much-criticized security coordination between the
Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel remains ongoing.
The outcome has been described as a diplomatic triumph and as a breakthrough. But no sooner the communiqué was released than hawkish partners of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, including the head of the Israeli delegation to the meeting, began to disavow it.
For the host
country, which has invested huge political capital in bringing the two sides
together with the backing of the US and Egypt, the five parties recognized “the
importance of upholding unchanged the historic status quo at the holy sites in
Jerusalem in word and practice, and emphasized in this regard the Hashemite
Custodianship/special role of Jordan.”
All parties
agreed to convene again in Sharm El-Sheikh in March to achieve the goals listed
above, reportedly ahead of the onset of the holy month of Ramadan.
The outcome has
been described as a diplomatic triumph and as a breakthrough. But no sooner the
communiqué was released than hawkish partners of Prime Minister Benyamin
Netanyahu, including the head of the
Israeli delegation to the meeting, began
to disavow it.
According to
Israeli media, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed he had no knowledge of
the context of the
Aqaba discussions. He asserted, “there will not be a freeze
on construction and development in the settlement, not even for one day”.
Joining him was National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who tweeted later
that “what was in Jordan (if it was), will stay in Jordan”. Shortly after,
Netanyahu joined the chorus, declaring there would not be any construction
freeze over the Green Line. “Construction and regulation in Judea and Samaria
will continue according to the original planning and construction schedule,
without any changes. There is and will not be any freeze.”
The real objective of the Aqaba meeting, at least the primary one, was to save the now shaky PA and its aging leader Abbas.
Earlier this
month, the Far Right government approved the building of 9,000 new illegal
settlement housing units in the West Bank while “authorizing” nine new
settlements.
The Israeli decision triggered a diplomatic crisis, forcing
several Arab countries to push for a UN Security Council resolution condemning
the Israeli move. But under US pressure, President Mahmoud Abbas caved in, and
in the end, the council adopted a coy, non-binding, Presidential Statement.
The
Aqaba meeting did not address the recently approved new permits, and
Israeli officials stated that the committee responsible for authorizing further
settlement expansion would not meet for at least three months.
While Jordan,
Egypt, and the US were busy
congratulating themselves on the Aqaba feat,
violence broke out in the West Bank. Jewish settlers went on the rampage in the
Palestinian village of Huwara, torching houses, shops, cars, trees, and
everything they could get their hands on. They were avenging the killing of two
settlers, hours earlier near the town, by a Palestinian gunman.
For hours
Israeli forces prevented Palestinian medics and civil defense teams from
entering the town by Israeli soldiers. The Jewish mob killed one Palestinian
and injured more than 100. This was the reality on the ground that the Aqaba
meeting was hoping to prevent.
Certainly, the
bloody events of that day sealed the fate of the agreement.
Netanyahu’s
coalition, the most extreme, ideologically and religiously in Israel’s history,
will not allow its leader to do any of the things the
parties agreed to in Aqaba. This is something that the Biden administration, as well as Jordan and
Egypt, must understand by now. In less than two months,
Israel killed more than
60 Palestinians. It demolished tens of homes and buildings while looking the
other way as Jewish settlers attacked Palestinians and confiscated more land.
The outcomes of Aqaba’s meeting were stillborn and the events preceding Ramadan are a harbinger of how bad things will get during the holy month.
The real
objective of the Aqaba meeting, at least the primary one, was to save the now
shaky PA and its aging leader Abbas.
Increasing
militancy among West Bank Palestinians plays into the hands of Hamas, which is
preparing to fill the vacuum created by an inept PA, which has become so
unpopular and on the verge of bankruptcy. Netanyahu’s Far Right partners do not
see a difference between the two. There is no binary choice here. Palestinians
are the enemy, and Smotrich and other
Israeli ministers have threatened to
dispatch tanks and helicopters to Palestinian towns. Others openly called for
burning Huwara to the ground.
The outcomes of
Aqaba’s meeting were stillborn, and the events preceding Ramadan are a
harbinger of how bad things will get during the holy month.
The settlers,
led by
Ben Gvir and others, have declared war on the Palestinians, and
Netanyahu, who is looking only for his self-interest, can do nothing to stop
it.
Osama Al Sharif
is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman.
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