This article by Dr. David Bennett argues that the United States and Israel can avoid the Gaza trap which Iran has set for them by enlisting Jordan’s help.
An important aspect of being successfully cunning is to divert your protagonist from undertaking a particular course of action.
Iran, via its proxy, Hamas on the Gaza Strip, launched its killings and hostage taking against Israeli citizens on October 7th, 2023, in order to divert Israel from signing the Abraham Accords which would have led to diplomatic relations being established and /or extended between Israel and the Arab Gulf states and Saudi Arabia.
This Iranian instigated outrage will unfortunately consolidate if the Palestinians living in Gaza are subsequently expelled (‘ethnically cleansed’) by Israel following a successful military campaign to retake this territory. Israel will be further alienated from the Arab World if the Gaza Strip is subsequently ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian population.
A policy of ethnic cleansing is also beneath Israel which is the only established democracy in the Middle East. Should the administration of Donald Trump give its support to the reprehensible policy of ethnically cleansing the Gaza Strip then American influence in the Middle East will be fatally undermined. The peace process which has occurred since the 1979 signing of the Camp David Accords between Isreal and Egypt would be destroyed.
The major beneficiary of this destruction of the Middle East peace process will be Iran which is covertly developing nuclear weapons as a part of its ultimate agenda to completely dominate the Middle East. If the United States is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, then Arab-Israeli co-operation in this endeavour will be crucial. Indeed, the future success or otherwise of the Trump administration in foreign affairs may well ultimately depend upon on whether the United States and her allies in the Middle East successfully thwart Iran’s nuclear weapon ambitions.
How and Why, Jordan can Help Save the Situation
Therefore, Iran’s policy of engineering a fatal rapture between the United States and the Arab world must be seen for what it is- a cunning diversionary strategy. That is not to say that the United States should not support an Israeli military campaign to eject Hamas itself from the Gaza Strip. However, let Israel publicly forecast during the conduct of such a military campaign, that following its retaking Gaza, that it will allow the subsequent deployment of Jordian troops in this territory to assist in the recovery and redevelopment of the area and its infrastructure.
Indeed, Isreal should, following its re-occupation, enlist Jordanian assistance to help provisionally administer the Gaza Strip until an international conference can be convened to facilitate the formulation of a two-state solution to the Isreal-Palestine impasse. Isreal in the interim, would still militarily predominate in the Gaza Strip as the main garrison force in that territory and Jordan could provide a supplementary Arab military presence.
The deployment of Jordanian troops would re-assure the local Palestinian population (the overwhelming majority of whom now despise Hamas) that they will not be ethnically cleansed and will be protected from further exploitation from future Hamas insurgency tactics. It is true that in the process of Isreal re-taking the Gaza Strip this territory has been destroyed. However, the recovery process should not be used as a pretext to subsequently ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip.
The provision of humanitarian aid by the United States and its Arab allies to the Gaza Strip following a successful Israeli military campaign would not only allow the Palestinians living there to re-adapt but would also be conducive to supporting the Middle East peace process. The key to achieving these positive outcomes and in the process thwarting Iran’s wedge strategy is for the United States and Isreal to obtain Jordanian support for it to help provisionally administer the Gaza Strip.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which arguably has the Arab world’s most enlightened government, should turn this potential disaster around by being prepared to help provisionally administer a post-Hamas Gaza Strip. A Jordanian involvement in the administration of a post-Hamas Gaza Strip would also allow this kingdom to serve as a bridge between Israel and the Arab world so that a much-needed international coalition can be assembled to thwart Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.