Jordan is now a Palestinian Arab State, led by a Palestinian Arab Monarch, born in Amman, Palestine in 1935. His ancestry is from what was the Hejaz and is now Saudi Arabia [under the Saudi Dynasty… this land used to be called ARABIA]. King Hussein, although a Jordanian, is also a Palestinian. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, for example, is an Israeli, but he is also a Palestinian.

For Jordan, as we shall see, is Eastern Palestine, while Israel possesses all of Western Palestine (only 23% of Mandatory Palestine), although it has given administration of part of "the West Bank and Gaza" (actually Judea, Samaria and the Gaza District, which together constitute a total of about 5 percent of Palestine) to the Palestinian Authority of Chairman (not President) Yassir Arafat. Israel liberated Judea and Samaria in June 1967 after being attacked by Jordan.

"Israel, the Jewish people," has legitimate claims to Judea, Samaria and Gaza that are greater than the claims of any other people. These claims are based on religion, history and international law, and are essential to understanding the status of Jordan as the Arab State in Palestine. (I exclude from this discussion the claims of "Israel, the Nation-State," which are based on security. Such claims only exist because of the existence of the State of Israel, and only did arise after the RECONSTITUTION of the Modem State of Israel.)

We must begin with the Jewish religion, and it is most appropriate to do so, for the Jewish people as a people have survived because they have had their own religion, and because a "saving remnant" of orthodox Jews has never surrendered to persecution, massacre, and pressures to assimilate, to break the 3000-year-old chain that each Jew today represents.

In the Hebrew Bible, the Tanach… the Jews reach the Promised Land from the east. As we learn from Chapter XXXII of the Book of Numbers, at the Jordan River the tribes of Rueben and Gad ask Moses to remain east of the Jordan. Moses allows it to them and to the half-tribe of Menasheh as "the possession of their inheritance," if they will join with other tribes under Joshua to subdue the lands West of the Jordan. They do so and receive from Moses Eastern Palestine, later called in the Bible the Land of Gilead.

The importance of <Eastern Palestine> can be gauged from the fact that in Chapter XXXV of Numbers, the Lord instructs Moses that there shall be six Cities of Refuge, of which three shall be beyond (that is, east of) the Jordan and three shall be in the conquered land of Canaan. Moses confirms both his land grants and the Cities of Refuge east of the Jordan in, respectively, Chapters III: 12-13 and IV: 41-43 of the Book of Deuteronomy.

The Romans introduced the name <Palaestina> after the suppression of the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 CE At that time and thereafter, Palestine included land on both sides of the Jordan, although the Eastern lands were never in the consciousness of the world as were the Holy Lands west of the Jordan, and the Eastern boundaries, ending somewhere in the Syrian Desert, were fluid.

In history, except for the short-lived Crusader Kingdom, only the Jews had a state in the lands of Palestine, a state they never surrendered. The conquests of other groups, such as Arabs and Turks, included parts of Palestine as districts in broader empires. In the Ottoman Turkish Empire, for example, which covered the land of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan from 1517 to 1917, Palestine to the very end did not exist as a political or even an administrative unit.

But Palestine had an historical identity. For example, in the Encyclopedia Britannica edition of 1911, the map of Palestine showed it as extending from the Sinai in the South to the Litani River (now 20 miles into Lebanon) in the North and from the Mediterranean Sea in the West to an undefined boundary in the Eastern desert, East of the Jordan River.

On November 2, 1917, the British Government issued the Balfour Declaration in the form of a letter from British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, including the words "His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people . . ."

Was the Balfour Declaration intended to apply to Trans-Jordan? The answer is yes! The internal British debates that led to the Declaration show clearly that the British policy was to achieve control of an uninterrupted land corridor from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. They could not have intended to create a Mesopotamia (later renamed Iraq) with its Western boundary at the Jordan River. Even Lord Curzon's October 26, 1917 critique of the proposed Balfour Declaration expressly took it for granted that its support for a Jewish National Home policy would apply to historical Palestin on both sides of the Jordan River. His memorandum stated that Palestine east and west of the Jordan River was too small a country for the Jewish people.

In 1919 a Zionist delegation was invited to the Paris Peace Conference on behalf of the future population of Palestine. The Emir Feisal, a son of the Hashemite Hussein, Sherif of Mecca, as well as a hero of the Lawrence of Arabia adventures, attended as Arab Plenipotentiary, with authority also from the Syrian nationalists.

The Zionist delegation stated its territorial demands for the Palestine Mandate-to-be to extend east of the Jordan River to the Hejaz Railroad. Feisal described these demands later as moderate and proper." In his own demands to the Peace Conference, Feisal expressly excluded Palestine because of the Jewish National Home policy adopted by the Allies, and he suggested a Mandate. He earlier had made an agreement with the Zionist leader Dr. Chaim Weiztnann envisioning Palestine as a future Jewish state.

The Ottoman Empire discussions at Paris were not completed prior to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, and continued at San Remo, Italy in April 1920. The Turkish Peace Treaty was drafted at San Remo simultaneously with the allocation of the three Mandates of Mesopotamia (now Iraq), Syria and Palestine. Mesopotamia and Syria were provisionally recognized as independent states in Article 94 of the Treaty, subject to Mandatory tutelage. The same was not accorded to Palestine in Article 95, which stated that the Mandatory would be responsible for putting into effect the Balfour Declaration, whose literal wording was incorporated into the Preamble to the Mandate for Palestine. Those words, as well as the most important Jewish National Home provisions of the Mandate, are as follows:

Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country; and

Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting (emphasis mine) their national home in that country; and ... (Preamble)

The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic Conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble.... (Art. 2)

An appropriate Jewish agency shall be recognized as public body for the purpose of advising and co-operating with the Administration of Palestine in such economic social and other matters as may affect the establishment o the Jewish national home and the interests of the Jewish population in Palestine,..(Art. 4)

The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage, in co-operation with the Jewish agency referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land, including State land and waste lands not required for public purposes (Article 6) (emphasis added)

An Italian attempt at San Remo to protect the national, as well as the civil and religious, rights of the "existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine" was defeated. Lord Curzon, critical though he had been of the Balfour Declaration, preserved it recognition of only Jewish national rights in Palestine.

At the same time, Britain and France negotiated the Northern border of Palestine, to, the East as well as the West of the Jordan River, on the basis of a Biblical atlas (remember Reuben, Gad and Menasheh). Incidentally, this included the Golan Heights in Palestine, but the area was ceded to Syria in 1923.

The Mandate was granted to Britain in April 1920. Sir Alec Kirkbride, once Palestine District Commissioner and in 1946 the first Minister to the new Kingdom of Transjordan, wrote in his 1956 book <A Crackle of Thorns>, quote:-

. . . At the time of the issue of this Mandate, there was no intention ... of forming the territory east of the River Jordan into an independent Arab State.

The Turkish Peace Treaty was initialed by Turkey at Sevres in August 1920 but not ratified, as a result of Kemal Ataturk' overthrow of the Turkish Government.

On December 6, 1920, the British, who had already approved the Mandate, submitted it to the League of Nations for ratification. It contained the Jewish National Home provisions without protecting the political rights of the Arab population, and it applied to both Cis-Jordania (Western Palestine) and Trans-Jordania (Eastern Palestine).

By that time, the Emir Feisal had been driven out of Syria. A Syrian National Congress had elected Feisal King of Syria on March 11, 1920. That was too much for the French, who forced him out of Damascus in July 1920.

In March 1921, a conference of senior British officials was convened in Cairo, chaired by Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill, in order to deal with the outstanding issues in the Middle East. In Mesopotamia (Iraq), where a rebellion had been going on for months, they installed Feisal as King. His older brother, Emir Abdullah, had come up into Trans-Jordan from the independent Hejaz (which would be seized in 1924 by the Wahhabi Ibn-Saud and become western Saudi Arabia).

Abdullah threatened to rally local Bedouin tribes for an attack on the French in Syria.

An idea was developed, supported by Britain's leading Arabist, Colonel T.E. Lawrence, who was at Cairo. It was to offer Abdullah the Governorship of the Trans-Jordanian Province of Palestine. In a wire to Prime Minister Lloyd George, Churchill stated that the solution would be the one insisted upon by the Prime Minister in a prior telegram, namely "while preserving Arab character of area and administration to treat it as Arab province or adjunct of Palestine." Churchill also stated that he expected Abdullah to refuse the Governorship because the territory was too small. Abdullah agreed to undertake the Governorship for six months, but he never left. Note the telegram's emphasis on continuing Trans-Jordan, Arab character and all, as part of Palestine.

Preserving the Arab character of Trans-Jordan was counter to the Jewish National Home provisions of the Mandate for Palestine, not yet ratified by the Council of the League or Nations.

So the Mandate for Palestine was amended by the British, principally by drafting a new Article 25 in April 1921. This was included in the Mandate ratified by the League of Nations in July 1922, which thereafter was never amended except by the British Government's Memorandum described below.

A great error is made regarding Article 25 and Trans-Jordan. It is even made by Zionists. It is the view that in 1922 three-fourths of Palestine was given to the Arabs, and thereafter Palestine was limited to the area West of the Jordan River.

The opening words of Article 25 disprove this statement:

In the territories lying between the Jordan and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, ...

This proves that the land on both sides of the Jordan continued to be part of the Mandate for Palestine and that the eastern border of Trans-Jordan continued to be the eastern border or the Mandate.

Article 25 allowed the British, with the consent of the Council of the League, to "postpone or withhold" but not to cancel application of certain provisions of the Mandate.

On September 16, 1922, the Council approved a "Memorandum by the British Government relating to its application to Transjordan," and thereafter the quoted language was included in the Mandate's title. The Memorandum should always be read as part of the Mandate. Most copies of the Mandate unfortunately omit it.

The Memorandum postponed or withheld application of the Jewish National Home provisions in "the Territory known as Transjordan, which comprises all territory lying to the East" from two miles West of Akaba on the Gulf of Akaba up the Jordan and Yarmuk River to the Syrian Frontier.

But of the 28 articles of the Mandate, 19 in full and parts of 3 others continued to apply in Transjordan. The Jews continued to have legal rights there, including individual settlement, although in practice the British and the Arabs excluded all Jews. Indeed, the Jewish National Fund continued to own land in Transjordan until the late 1940's.

All Palestinians East and West of the Jordan traveled with a passport issued by the High Commissioner in Jerusalem. Currency in Transjordan continued to contain the three official languages (English, Arabic and Hebrew) into the early 1950's. Abdullah's Governorship was subject to the authority of the Palestine High Commissioner in Jerusalem. He was counseled by British advisers headed by a Resident as representative of the High Commissioner.

Thus the promise of the Jewish National Home was withheld in Eastern Palestine, remaining in Western Palestine. And finally, on May 25, 1946, the national identity of the Palestinian Arabs was recognized, when Abdullah was proclaimed King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. This proclamation was of doubtful legality. For example, in its presentations to the League of Nations (which existed until April 19, 1946) and the United Nations, the British falsely claimed that Palestine and Transjordan were separate Mandates, a falsehood now repeated by many who challenge the fact that Jordan is Eastern Palestine. But in 1955 Jordan (ten years later) was admitted to the United Nations. Its legality is thus accepted, and it is the Palestinian Arab Nation-State, or, stated another way, it is the Arab State in Palestine.

The Jewish people are entitled to the land of Eretz Israel that is West of the Jordan River. The Arabs on the other hand have had their self-determination on 77% of the Mandate for Palestine East of the River now called Jordan since May 25, 1946…

Let the two peoples, Jews and Arabs live there SIDE BY SIDE in peace and friendship. And it is not necessary in order to do so to give up either any part of the 23% of the Jewish Democratic nature of the State of Israel, nor to dislocate the 77% of the Palestine Mandate now called Jordan where Palestinian Arabs are the majority.

The proposal that a third Palestinian state be established between the two existing ones is often advanced as a "reasonable" solution to the "Palestinian problem." When the idea is Supported by Arabs (and, at times, PLO) spokesmen, it is hailed as a sign of " moderation." Yet in rare candid moments, some of these spokesmen have revealed the real reason behind their support of the third-state notion. Here are two authoritative examples, quoted from statements by high-ranking PLO and Arab League officials:

It is only for tactical reasons that we carefully stress our Palestinian identity, for it is in the national interest of the Arabs to encourage a separate Palestinian identity to counter Zionism: The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the ongoing battle against Israel. . . After we will have attained all our rights in the whole of Palestine, we must not postpone, even for a single moment, the reunification of Jordan and Palestine. (Zohair Mohsin, then head of PLO @ Military Operations Dept. and member of PLO Executive Council, in interview for Dutch newspaper Trouw, 31 March 1977)

Speaking in an interview on Radio Monte Carlo on 26 November 1979, the secretary-general of the Arab League, Shazli al-Klibi, said:

The Arab leaders, despite the differences in their approaches, are united in their view that the confrontation with Zionism will not end with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in a few years' time. On the contrary, the confrontation will continue, with the marshaling of the military, economic and political resources of the Arab states, in order to defeat Zionism.

(Shazli al-Klibi, secretary-general of the Arab League, interviewed on Radio Monte Carlo, 26 November 1976) The fact is that, for 19 years (1948-1967), Judea-Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") was under Jordanian rule, and another Arab-Palestinian state could easily have been set up there. Yet no such state was established, nor even suggested. Clearly, there was no Point in calling for a Palestinian state that already existed.

So... when I was promoting the fact that JORDAN IS PALESTINE I was not wrong.