Will Jordan go to the Naqab-2 summit?

Washington is pushing hard for its attendance, but Amman wants Palestinian ‘cover’

As the Arab and Islamic worlds were preoccupied with the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria last week, there were three little-noticed developments related to the Palestinian cause that could have far-reaching consequences.

First, the heavy US pressure exerted on Jordan — by secretary of state Anthony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan — to attend the ‘Naqab-2’ summit to be held in Morocco next month. The signs are that the Jordanian government is more inclined to submit to that pressure in return for financial rewards.

Second, the statement issued by Israeli bank chiefs after an emergency meeting with finance minister Smotrich warning that capital flight from Israel has increased ten-fold because of investors’ fears about insecurity and government plans to reform the judicial system.

Third, the Israeli Knesset’s ratification of a law revoking the citizenship or residency of ‘terrorist’ Palestinian activists in East Jerusalem and the 1948 areas, and approving their deportation to the West Bank or Gaza before or after they are tried or convicted.

Regarding the first development — broadening Arab attendance at the Naqab summit by including Jordan and Sudan — it must be said that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has so far been resisting US pressure and financial inducements to attend or endorse the gathering. While I have long been a fierce critic of the PA, this is a commendable stance which I hope it will stick to.

According to informed sources, the Jordanian authorities want Palestinian ‘cover’ — in the form of the PA or someone nominated by it attending the summit — to justify its own attendance. US envoy Hady Amr has been sounding out various Palestinian businessmen about performing that role. Some are said to have swallowed the bait and agreed in principle, though their names are not being revealed.

Blinken has fully taken on board Netanyahu’s view that the US should focus on expanding the ‘Abraham Accords and accelerating normalisation to integrate Israel into the region while giving priority to the Iran dossier. Blinken chaired the first Naqab summit and is also to preside over the second.

The second development — the revelation about the scale of capital flight from Israel — underlines two things:

First, the fast-deteriorating security situation both in the Occupied Territories and within the Green Line due to the big increase in resistance operations, whether armed attacks, run-overs, or stabbings. The stability that investors require is no more.

Second, the erosion of the image Israel has since its creation projected to the capitalist West that supports itself as the only democracy in the Middle East. The election of a far-right fascist government intent on changing the judicial system to annul the corruption charges chasing Netanyahu, the growing rift within Israeli society amid mass anti-government protests and fears of the outbreak of civil war, paint a different picture. Israel’s racism, brutality, and arrogance — and Western indulgence of its behaviour — reveals it increasingly as just another Middle Eastern dictatorship.

If evidence of that were needed, it can be found in the new law providing for the deportation of alleged ‘terrorists’ to the West Bank, Gaza Strip or even Jordan (many East Jerusalemites retain their Jordanian citizenship). This further strips the democratic veneer from the occupier state and is likely to backfire by provoking an escalation in resistance operations. The same can be said about its supplying thousands of firearms to its fanatical settlers under the pretext of self-defence.

Against this backdrop, the Palestinian businessmen being lobbied by the US to take part in the Naqab summit should beware of falling into this treasonous trap.

Will Jordan go to the Naqab-2 summit?