EX-DOVES RALLY AROUND THE JORDAN OPTION

Yossi Klein-Halevi has come out in favor of the Jordan Option:

Now, Palestine is in ruins, with no prospects of recovery, controlled by a leadership that places grandiose national dreams ahead of its people's most basic welfare. Relatively stable Jordan is the natural custodian to help rebuild Palestinian society. Jordan's population is around 70 percent Palestinian, and
the Hashemite Kingdom has been the only Arab country to grant Palestinian refugees citizenship. That is tacit recognition of the fact that Jordan is part of historic Palestine -- indeed, the only independent Arab state that has ever existed in this land.

As a first step, the Palestinian Authority must go the way of the Taliban. Arafat should be placed on a plane to Baghdad and his terrorist "police" apparatus dismantled. Israel would then cede most of the territories to Jordan, concentrating the settlements in areas close to the 1967 borders. Until the
situation stabilizes, Israel would remain in control of a united Jerusalem, though it would cede the Temple Mount to the Hashemites who, as descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's family, have a compelling claim as custodians of the site. Finally, Israel would retain a military presence along the
Jordan River.

There will be much opposition to this idea - from Europeans who invested in the idea of the Palestinian Authority, to Arab states that would prefer to keep the Palestinian issue alive to distract their populace from their own domestic failings, to those that prefer to erase Israel off the map - for which a Palestinian regime is a far more effective tool than a Jordanian government that actually seeks peace. Yet, with visionary leadership from the United States, such an option can be transformed from theoretical musings to a real possibility. For the sake of both Israelis and Palestinians, let us hope such vision will emerge.