If all this sounds theoretical, impractical, unpragmatic, it’s the opposite.
A Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza is not economically viable without at least a condominium arrangement with Jordan. This even in the unlikely event that Israel retreats to its pre-Six Day War borders.
If left amputated from their true homeland, Jordan, the Palestinians will seek lebensraum, either toward the Mediterranean or across the Jordan River. Obviously, they would be no match for Israel, but the king of Jordan will look like a fine target to a bankrupted Palestinian regime.
Which is exactly why Abdullah, like his late father before him, fears a Palestinian state, no matter what he says publicly.
Indeed, no neighboring Arab nation really wants a separate state on the West Bank ? not Egypt, not Saudi Arabia, not Syria, not Lebanon.
Some of them say they want it, but whosoever accepts rhetoric in the Middle East belongs in the U.S. State Department.
