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What Mitchell Should Try: The Jordan-Egypt Option

[Hudson Institute-New York] Khaled Abu Toameh - The new reality that has existed on the ground since 2007, where the Palestinians have two separate mini-states in the West Bank and Gaza, casts doubts as to the viability of the two-state solution. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the Palestinians have systematically failed in laying the cornerstone for a Palestinian state that would exist alongside Israel. With the help of the U.S. and the Europeans, Yasser Arafat established a corrupt dictatorship called the Palestinian Authority, which did almost nothing to build proper institutions. After the Israeli pullout from Gaza, the PA had another chance to start building infrastructure for the long-awaited state. But instead of turning Gaza into the Singapore of the Middle East, the Palestinians turned it into a base for radical Islamic organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Today, it seems almost certain that the Palestinians will have to live with these two separate and rival entities for quite some time. So the time has come to consider other options, such as involving the Jordanians and the Egyptians in running the affairs of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. President Mubarak and King Abdullah II do not like the idea, preferring that the Palestinians remain Israel's problem alone. But the Palestinians really need the help of these two countries.
2009-02-03 06:00:00
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