Last week, Jordan’s King Abdullah II gave his annual speech marking the anniversary of his country’s independence. Pinhas Inbari explains the implications of his remarks on the Palestinians:Abdullah stated that Palestine is part of the “Arabism” [uruba] of the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks declared on June 5, 1916, and stressed the centrality of the al-Aqsa Mosque as the primary responsibility of the Hashemites [Jordan’s ruling dynasty]. . . . [He thus] ignored Palestinian desires for a state—and Palestinian nationalism in general. . . .
The speech came after a progressive deterioration in relations between Jordan and the Palestinian Authority to the point of a break between the king and the head of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas. . . . Looming over the Jordanian-PA rift is the possible Jordanian option of closing the bridges over the Jordan River as Egypt closed its Rafah crossing with Gaza.
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