OK not very plausible but I think within the realm of possibility. Jordan was the Arab country liked most by the British and Americans. So what if after the 6-day war, they put pressure by backchannels on Israel to give up their conquests and this pressure somehow actually works? I don't think this is very likely since Israel would probably see losing Western support as not as bad as giving up some territory, but I mean it's possible. So say in July 1970, they pull back from most of their West Bank territory except Jerusalem and a 5000 meter area around the city. Publicly, the Americans are not involved whatsoever, it is London and King Hussein just demanding the rightful return of Jordanian territory after Israel launched a sneak attack (or whatever Hussein thinks is good for PR). On some secret channel Hussein promises to not let any military aircraft fly over the area Israel is withdrawing from as a gesture to say "hey I won't use this place as a launching point to take back Jerusalem." Does this make Yasser Arafat more moderate and clamp down on extortion in Jordan that caused the monarchy so many headaches OTL?
Israel Gives Back Jordan Territory in 1970
- Thread starter Alex Zetsu
- Start date
I know about the 3 "no's" but Hussien wouldn't be publicly making peace with Israel. Publicly his forces would be reoccupying some of but not all of his rightful territory. And an unofficial "no fly zone" would be much less visible to the other countries as long as that's not public.
raharris1973
Gone Fishin'
It wouldn't make Arafat or any Palestinian factions do anything or have any less motivation to do anything.
.....but if this territory were diplomatically extracted back from Israel and landed back in King Hussein's lap, the Jordanian King would have plenty of motivation to use full police powers against Palestinian militant activities (local fundraising, tax-collecting extortion, public assemblies, training, sure, but above all, cross-border activity), to not lose it again, and mayors, sheriffs, administrators aligned with the royals would share some incentive to cooperate with Jordanian security services even while cross-pressured the other way.
Did Jordan ever want it back? I am no expert on the topic, but I vaguely recall Jordan rejecting sovereignty over the West Bank after 1967. Can anyone enlighten us?
not officially until 1988 in Camp David. and they did rebuff allons plan to give it back. add to that Black september and thus it might be more accurate they were starting to have second thoughts.And the objection to allon was more Khartoum then desire to abandon the West Bank
Of course July is before Black September and now Hussain gets credit for extracting (most of) the land back in TTL
but its still after Khartoum so hell need to figure out a spin. Best I can think of is a phony "war" to make it look like it wasnt peace negotiations or recognition.
Since there is only a no-fly zone as opposed to a demilitarized zone, it kind of looks like London and Hussain are just getting Israel to unilaterally back off
cardcarrier
Banned
Given the destabilization factor the Palestinians where causing for them internally (which is what drove them to join the 67 war in the first place) under truth surem I highly doubt they would have ever wanted those lands with their rebellious subjects back