Israeli & Saudi solutions can resolve Judea & Samaria claims

A new solution to end Jewish and Arab claims to sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) has emerged this past week: Israel will annex 82% under a plan proposed by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich with the remaining 18% becoming exclaves of Jordan as predicated in the 2022 Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution authored by Ali Shihabi--an advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (Smotrich-Shihabi solution).

The Jordanian-ruled exclaves would comprise the major Arab towns located in Judea and Samaria (West Bank): Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem, Jericho and Hebron--with their citizens regaining Jordanian citizenship--first acquired in 1949 and lost in 1988.

An exclave is a part of a country that is geographically separated from the main territory, with no direct land connection.

Current exclaves include:

• Cabinda Province (Angola): A part of Angola that is isolated from the rest of the country by the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Point Roberts, Washington (USA): A U.S. exclave separated from the contiguous U.S. by Canadian territory.
• Campione d'Italia (Italy): An Italian exclave completely surrounded by Switzerland.

The Smotrich-Shihabi solution would consign the United Nations solution to create a new independent Palestinian Arab State between Israel and Jordan (two-state solution) to the diplomatic graveyard.

The UN solution had been surreptitiously inserted into Security Council Resolution 2735--drafted by the Biden administration--and adopted on June 10, 2024--in which the Security Council:

“Reiterates its unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-State solution where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, consistent with international law and relevant UN resolutions, and in this regard stresses the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority;

Israel’s Knesset firmly rejected this UN proposal by 68 votes to 9 on July 18, 2024:

“The Knesset of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel will pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region”

The United Arab Emirates is now threatening the continuation of the Abraham Accords if Israel annexes any part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)--Emirati special envoy Lana Nusseibeh telling The Times of Israel in an interview conducted in the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abu Dhabi:

“Annexation would be a red line for my government, and that means there can be no lasting peace. It would foreclose the idea of regional integration and be the death knell of the two-state solution,”

The death knell of the two-state solution has long tolled after:

• Gaza’s invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023
• The ongoing unresolved 700 days War that has ensued
• Israel’s absolute rejection of any two-state solution on July 18,2024.

Reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pulled back from discussing annexation of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) after Nusseibeh’s warning seem strange because:

• No better alternative solutions exist
• President Trump’s Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee stated on September 5:

“The US has never asked Israel to not apply sovereignty. I have repeatedly said that the US respects Israel as a sovereign nation and will not tell Israel what to do. This is also what Secretary Rubio has said as recently as this week.”

Resolving territorial claims to Judea and Samaria (West Bank) can only strengthen the Abraham Accords and help end the Arab-Jewish conflict.

Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”

Author’s note: The cartoon was drawn in November 2022 by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators--who passed away on 14 April 2025 and whose cartoons graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International—an organization calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at: jordanispalestine.blogspot.com