Why West Bank annexation is a direct threat to Jordan

https://arab.news/v2v7a

When Israel’s security Cabinet voted last week to extend Israeli control over areas under Palestinian administration, Amman heard more than a policy announcement — it heard an existential threat. For Jordan’s King Abdullah, the move crossed what he has called his “red lines”: no displacement of Palestinians, no alternative homeland, no liquidation of the Palestinian cause. All three are now in jeopardy, and with them, Jordan’s stability.

Jordan was quick to condemn the decision, describing the measures as “illegal” and “aimed at entrenching settlements and imposing Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.” The Palestinian Authority, Arab and Muslim countries, as well as the EU and UN, joined in the condemnation.

In a lukewarm reaction, US President Donald Trump reiterated his objection to Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, but stopped short of denouncing the measures or calling on Israel to rescind them. To underscore the unambiguous meaning of the measures, Israel’s Energy Minister Eli Cohen told Israeli radio that the steps amounted to implementing “de facto sovereignty,” adding that they “actually establish a fact on the ground that there will not be a Palestinian state.”