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In 1946–48, Abdullah actually supported partition in order that the Arab allocated areas of the British Mandate for Palestine could be annexed into Transjordan. Abdullah went so far as to have secret meetings with the Jewish Agency (future Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was among the delegates to these meetings) that came to a mutually agreed upon partition plan independently of the United Nations in November 1947.[1] On 17 November 1947, in a secret meeting with Meir, Abdullah stated that he wished to annex all of the Arab parts as a minimum, and would prefer to annex all of Palestine.[2][3] This partition plan was supported by British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin who preferred to see Abdullah's territory increased at the expense of the Palestinians rather than risk the creation of a Palestinian state headed by the Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammad Amin al-Husayni.[4][5]
No people on earth have been less "anti-Semitic" than the Arabs. The persecution of the Jews has been confined almost entirely to the Christian nations of the West. Jews, themselves, will admit that never since the Great Dispersion did Jews develop so freely and reach such importance as in Spain when it was an Arab possession. With very minor exceptions, Jews have lived for many centuries in the Middle East, in complete peace and friendliness with their Arab neighbours.
Abdullah's essay titled "As the Arabs see the Jews" in The American Magazine, six months before the onset of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War[6]
The claim has, however, been strongly disputed by Israeli historian Efraim Karsh. In an article in Middle East Quarterly, he alleged that "extensive quotations from the reports of all three Jewish participants [at the meetings] do not support Shlaim's account...the report of Ezra Danin and Eliahu Sasson on the Golda Meir meeting (the most important Israeli participant and the person who allegedly clinched the deal with Abdullah) is conspicuously missing from Shlaim's book, despite his awareness of its existence".[7] According to Karsh, the meetings in question concerned "an agreement based on the imminent U.N. Partition Resolution, [in Meir's words] "to maintain law and order until the UN could establish a government in that area"; namely, a short-lived law enforcement operation to implement the UN Partition Resolution, not obstruct it".[7]
Historian Graham Jevon discusses the Shlaim and Karsh interpretations of the critical meeting and accepts that there may not have been a "firm agreement" as posited by Shlaim while claiming it is clear that the parties openly discussed the possibility of a Hashemite-Zionist accommodation and further says it is "indisputable" that the Zionists confirmed that they were willing to accept Abdullah's intention.[8]
On 4 May 1948, Abdullah, as a part of the effort to seize as much of Palestine as possible, sent in the Arab Legion to attack the Israeli settlements in the Etzion Bloc.[2] Less than a week before the outbreak of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Abdullah met with Meir for one last time on 11 May 1948.[2] Abdullah told Meir, "Why are you in such a hurry to proclaim your state? Why don't you wait a few years? I will take over the whole country and you will be represented in my parliament. I will treat you very well and there will be no war".[2] Abdullah proposed to Meir the creation "of an autonomous Jewish canton within a Hashemite kingdom," but "Meir countered back that in November, they had agreed on a partition with Jewish statehood."[9] Depressed by the unavoidable war that would come between Jordan and the Yishuv, one Jewish Agency representative wrote, "[Abdullah] will not remain faithful to the 29 November [UN Partition] borders, but [he] will not attempt to conquer all of our state [either]."[10] Abdullah too found the coming war to be unfortunate, in part because he "preferred a Jewish state [as Transjordan's neighbour] to a Palestinian Arab state run by the mufti."[9]
Meeting of Golda Meir and King Abdullah I of Jordan (10 May)[edit]
1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine
On 10 May, Golda Meir and Ezra Danin secretly went to Amman, to the palace of King Abdullah to discuss the situation with him. The situation that Abdullah found himself in was difficult. On one hand, his personal ambitions, the promises made by the Yishuv in November 1947[citation needed] and the British approval of these promises pushed him to consider annexing the Arab part of Palestine without intervening against the future state of Israel. On the other hand, the pressure exerted by his people in reaction to the massacre of Deir Yassin, combined with their feelings with regard to the Palestinian exodus and his agreements with other members of the Arab League pushed him to be more strongly involved in the war against Israel.[11] He also found himself in a position of power, having the benefit of military support from not only the Arab League, but the British. In his diary, Ben-Gurion wrote about Golda Meir's reaction to the meeting:
We met [on 10 May] amicably. He was very worried and looks terrible. He did not deny that there had been talk and understanding between us about a desirable arrangement, namely that he would take the Arab part [of Palestine]. (...) But Abdullah had said that he could now, on 10 May, only offer the Jews "autonomy" within an enlarged Hashemite kingdom. He added that while he was not interested in invading the areas allocated for Jewish statehood, the situation was volatile. But he voiced the hope that Jordan and the Yishuv would conclude a peace agreement once the dust had settled.[12]
Historical analyses of the motivations and conclusions of this meeting differ. According to Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins – as well as Israeli historiographers[who?][13] – the intention behind the Yishuv's negotiation was to obtain a peace treaty and avoid an attack by Arab forces. At that time, the balance of power was not favourable for them, but Meir did not manage to convince the King.
According to Morris,[14] Abdullah 'reconsidered the promises that he made in November to not be opposed to the partition plan,' but left Meir with the impression that he would make peace with the Jewish state once the civil war had finished.
Avi Shlaim[15] spoke of a 'tacit' agreement to prevent the division of Palestine with the Palestinians, arguing the idea that there was a collusion between the Hashemite Kingdom and Yishuv. The historian Yoav Gelber, however, rejected this idea and devoted an entire work to dismounting it.[16]
Pierre Razoux indicated that 'the majority of experts consider it probable'[better source needed] that Ben-Gurion and King Abdullah had an understanding over dividing Palestine, and that only the pressure from the Arab states on Abdullah constrained him from following up on his promise. According to Razoux, this idea explains the attitude of the British, who, following this plan, would thereby fulfill the promises made by Arthur Balfour to the Yishuv and the Hashemite empire at the same time. He states that the presence of Arab Legion troops, before 15 May, near strategic positions held by the British is in this way easy to understand.[17]
Ilan Pappé[18] stressed that neither Abdullah's ministers, nor the Arab world itself, seemed to be privy to the discussions held between him and the Yishuv, even if his ambitions on Palestine were widely known. He also stated that Sir Alec Kirkbride and Glubb Pasha thought at the time that, at the very least, Azzam Pasha, the Secretary of the Arab League, must have known about Abdullah's double game.
It is certain, on the other hand, that Golda Meir and King Abdullah did not come to an agreement on the status of Jerusalem. On 13 May, the Arab Legion took Kfar Etzion,[19] strategically located halfway along the road between Hebron and Jerusalem. On 17 May, Abdullah ordered Glubb Pasha, commander of the Arab Legion, to launch an attack against the Holy City.
- ^ Rogan, Eugene; Shaim, Avi (2007). The War for Palestine. Cambridge University Press. pp. 109–110.
- ^ a b c d Karsh, Efraim The Arab-Israeli Conflict, London: Osprey, 2002 p. 51.
- ^ Avi., Shlaim (1 January 1988). Collusion across the Jordan : King Abdullah, the Zionist movement, and the partition of Palestine. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231068383. OCLC 876002691.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
odnbwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "al-Husseini, Hajj (Muhammad) Amin." Sela. The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. pp. 360–362. See p. 361.
- ^ ""As the Arabs see the Jews"". Kinghussein.gov. 1 January 1999. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ a b Karsh, Efraim (September 1996). "Historical Fictions". Middle East Quarterly. 3 (3): 55–60. Archived from the original on 7 February 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
- ^ Graham Jevon (27 April 2017). Glubb Pasha and the Arab Legion: Britain, Jordan and the End of Empire in the Middle East. Cambridge University Press. pp. 64–65. ISBN 978-1-316-83396-4.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Morris193was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Meeting of the Arab Section of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency," qtd. in Morris, 194
- ^ Ilan Pappé (2000), p. 167
- ^ War Diary 1948–1949, ed. Elhanan Orren and Gershon Rivlin, Israël Defence Ministry Press, Tel Aviv, 1982, p. 409
- ^ Dominique Lapierre et Larry Collins (1971), pp. 525–530
- ^ Benny Morris (1881), p. 221
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Henry Laurens 2005 p.83was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Both theses are developed in Avi Shlaim, Collusion Across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist movement and the Partition of Palestine, Columbia University Press, 1988 and in Yoav Gelber, Israeli-Jordanian dialogue, 1948–1953: cooperation, conspiracy or collusion, Sussex Academic Press, 2004.
- ^ Pierre Razoux (2006), p. 523
- ^ Ilan Pappé (2000), pp. 168–169
- ^ Efraïm Karsh (2002), p. 51