Jordanians call for a third intifada to thwart ‘Deal of the Century’

The United States is scheduled to reveal the first part of its peace plan at an economic conference in Bahrain in late June.

MEMRI examined a series of columns printed in the Jordanian press, including the government daily Al-Rai, calling on the Palestinian people to rise up in violence.

“How Shall We Deal with the Deal of the Century?” was the title of a column by journalist Muhammad Ali Marzouq Al-Zuyoud. The piece, which was published on April 26 in Al-Rai, called on Palestinian factions to rally around the spirit of resistance.

“[The Palestinians] must immediately stop the security coordination with the occupation, support and encourage all the liberation forces in Palestine, and spread the spirit of resistance and confrontation among the people – for a serious revolution or intifada inside the occupied territories is the best way to thwart any deal or plan,” he wrote.

A different columnist for Al-Rai presented a similar argument.

Journalist Basem Sakijha lashed out at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for considering peace with the Israelis and said that if Abbas could not properly resist the “Deal of the Century,” he should consider stepping down.

“Abu Mazen is one of the five founders of the Fatah movement, which has led the Palestinians for about half a century,” wrote Sakijha. “It is only natural that he should contemplate and take a historic decision about his future and the future of the Palestinian Authority. Anyone who fails to see that a Palestinian intifada is about to arrive is politically blind and unable to understand Palestinian history. And whoever fails to see that Israel realizes this, and wants it to be an intifada against the PA and not against Israel, is blind as well. Let’s hope [people] realize what is happening in the streets, and that the intifada will be against the enemy.”

And, in a column in the daily Al-Dustour, Hussein Al-Rawashdeh wrote that, given the dire condition of the Arab world, and given that the Israelis understand only the language of force, the Palestinians have no choice but to launch a new intifada that will unite them and the Arab world as well.

“The Palestinians themselves have not yet declared their intifada,” wrote Al-Rawashdeh. “Do we now need a third intifada that will reverse all the existing equations? Yes we do, [but] only the Palestinian people itself can reshuffle the deck and create [new] options.

“A new intifada. Why not? It is more important than the [inter-Palestinian] reconciliation, and it is the best response to the Deal of the Century and to those who spread [the idea of] normalizing [relations] with the occupier for no reward. It is more important than the barren negotiations and all the rhetoric about defending Al-Aqsa – for the Israelis understand only the language [of force] and the world notices only dramatic events,” he continued.

These op-eds were translated and disseminated by MEMRI with full citation and are only a sampling, the organization noted, of the types of anti-Israel articles being written by reporters and columnists in Jordan.