Mr. David Singer's article, BUSH AND ABDULLAH CHEW OVER THE BONES OF PALESTINE, is most interesting and presents perhaps the most desirable and practicable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian and indeed the Israeli-Arab conflict. Jordan is certainly more docile and responsible than most other Arab states and has a relationship of mutual respect with Israel. However, Mr. Singer overlooks some critical points that are strong challenges to this otherwise desirable proposal and may indeed only open a fresh chapter in the conflict, rather than putting it at rest. Let us examine those points:

(1) Up till now, Israel has preserved de-facto control over the West Bank and Gaza. The complete superiority of its government before a completely impotent Palestinian "government" makes it absolutely easy for Israel to make sure that Palestine's economy, state and public life never begin to aid the terrorism against Israel nor become a tool of Arab states that wish to destroy Israel. As of now, Israel's military forces can go in whenever needed to smack down the terrorists and punish the Palestinians who shelter, feed and support them. When deemed necessary, Israel enforced roadblocks, an economic barricade, cut off money and power supplies and even constructed protective fences to protect Israelis from terrorist attacks and a hostile Palestinian state. When needed, Israel confined Yasir Arafat to a few rooms by sheer, brute force and reduced him to a political non-entity. But Israel must admit, that its attempts to rub out the terrorists altogether have never succeeded.

Enter Jordan - the West Bank at least will become a legitimate part of the Jordanian nation and state. The Jordanian military and the government will control the lands and the people. Jordan is a respected member of the international community and enjoys a mutually respectful relationship with Israel. Jordan's professional army will come right up to Israel's border in order to patrol it, assert its legitimate authority and "contain" the terrorists.

Given the Israel has never succeeded in rubbing out the terrorists, how can Jordan hope to succeed? Jordan's military and political leadership are not strong enough to secure the borders with Israel. And in what way can Israel respond to terrorist attacks? Roadblocks, fences and retaliatory operations will only elevate the conflict as between Israel and Jordan, rather than Israel and the murderous Palestinians. It is hardly likely that the threat of Israeli strikes will endear them to King Abdullah, Jordan's army or any other nation in the world. After all, Jordan has been a respectable and peaceful Arab nation for many long years.

(2) Can Jordan integrate the Palestinians? Despite the late PLO terrorist Abu Iyad's words, there are many different challenges. After all, Iyad's simile is applicable to any Arab state and reflects the true nature of the situation - that Palestinians are not a legitimate nation, but part of the Arab hordes that inhabit dozens of states in West Asia and North Africa. The language, culture, ethnicity and religion are the same - the desert economy, the murderous mentality, the anti-non-Muslims and anti-Jewish sentiments, the tribal divisions and lifestyles are the same. So what is the difference between the Arabs of Tunisia and Palestine, or Yemen and Palestine? Gaza was a traditional target of Egypt's adventures against Israel, and the Palestinians of Gaza look to Egypt to offer some form of protection from Israel. Muslims of northern Israel and the PLO encampments in Lebanon had looked to Lebanon and Syria as protectors. The Palestinians settled in Iraq by Saddam looked to that country's regime as protectors.

In the 1960s, Jordan had offered Palestinians citizenship. Some took it, but most did not, preferring their refugee camps to Jordan. It would have been extremely easy for this solution to be fully implemented then and there, but it was not. Given that both the PLO and Hamas have some level of democratic, legal legitimacy in Palestine today, they will be strong influences and obstacles to the authority of the Jordanian king and his government. As custodians of the anti-Semitic tradition of terrorism and deriving their power from the slums and refugee camps, these groups cannot be controlled and their political power sure to be a major influence in Jordan's political system and relations with Israel.

What about those millions of Palestinians still clinging on the "right of return”? How will Jordan represent that still emotional demand in talks with Israel? Be it through Fatah or Hamas, the Palestinian refugees speak for themselves. Now will they accept their citizenship in Jordan, which will pretty much kill that demand? They did not agree to this in the late 1960s, so why now, given the concessions of the Oslo Accords towards Palestinian self-government and statehood? Israeli leaders like Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak and even Ariel Sharon have done much to concede to Palestinians, so why back-off now by giving away their negotiating power to Abdullah?

Jordan's "Black September" campaign succeeded because it had a considerable measure of support amongst Jordanians, who saw the Palestinians as a nuisance, a burden and a source of violence and instability to their own lives. Yasir Arafat had the audacity to challenge the Jordanian king himself. Now there is his "moderate" Fatah and the "extremist" Hamas - leaving the Jordanians to figure out whether siding with Fatah is less treacherous than Hamas, or if their preference for Fatah will give them an overinflated and destructive role in the Jordan-Israel relationship.

Whatever the mayhem in the West Bank and Gaza, ordinary Jordanians have not been affected. Remember, these were the first Arabs to openly denounce and protest the Al-Qaeda's attacks that killed Jordanian civilians. So why should they willingly invite the hell-raising, burdensome Palestinians, who can reduce their country to a swarm of refugee camps?

Remember the example of Lebanon - the country is under siege to a terrorist group. The Hezbollah has more financial, political and military power than the Lebanese government itself. It is the direct authority in half the country, with an ability to take over the other half at a moment's notice. When Lebanon was invaded in 2006, the Lebanese army played with pebbles while Hezbollah did all the fighting. Hezbollah, and its Syrian and Iranian benefactors. Will this be the fate of Jordan? Is King Abdullah's army to play with pebbles while Hamas runs the country?

Remember that Jordan has no oil wealth - the only source of Arab, and indeed Muslim influence in the world. It has always been inferior to the oily behemoths such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. Nor is its population as large as Egypt or Iran to stand on its own against the willpower of the the rest of the Arab and Muslim world.

Remember that Jordan will become the central target for Islamists to herald the Muslim "Third Reich" - the caliphate, the pure Islamic State. Scores of militias, foreign recruits, international terrorist groups and the grass-roots Muslim mullahs will combine to create the equivalent of the sadistic Taliban, Iran or Somalia.

(3) The Palestinian conflict is about the Muslim claim to the Holy Land and Jerusalem - that matters unlike anything else. If Jordan assumes control of the West Bank, it basically takes over the responsibility of returning Jerusalem to Muslim hands, by hook or crook.

Any concession Jordan makes to Israel will result in Jordan's isolation amongst the Arabs, and Abdullah's impending assassination or overthrow - they took shots at his father Hussein and they will not cut him any slack. Apart from Palestinian fury, Arab and worldwide Muslim fury will turn directly on Amman, which is an easier target to hate. Arafat and Abbas can't make deals because they derive their power directly from the slums of the West Bank - their seats of power are situated there. But the distance of Amman and Abdullah is not an advantage, but a catalyst for unified Palestinian aggression against Jordan. It will be easy for Fatah and Hamas to commonly denounce a Jordanian peace proposal rather than those they are forced to make themselves. Upon election in 2005, the heat was turned on to Hamas directly to give up terrorism and recognize Israel. The world shut off funds and isolated the PLO like never before. What can the world do if Amman assumes responsibility for them and the critical issues? Isn't Jordan a respected nation, an ally on the war on terror, an island of sanity?

Will Jordan not feel compelled to resort to some form of aggression against Israel to press its influence and importance? Will it not feel compelled to use the terrorists as a bargaining chip rather than make them a national threat? Will it not become a target of general Muslim pressure and criticism over every step it takes in the conflict resolution?

The Muslim claim to Jerusalem is about the 50-plus Muslim nations and the 1.3 billion Muslims. Not Jordan nor any other Muslim state can single-handedly do anything about it.

(4) The confused, impotent Palestinian regime has always been easy to control, for Israel, the West and the Arab world. Any problem, any issue and the money tap is turned off by the Arabs and the West. Any problem and Israel strikes against the terrorists. The isolation of Yasir Arafat was undertaken by the West and Israel with a degree of Arab tolerance and consent. The terrorist pioneer and the single biggest hindrance to world peace than any villian of a James Bond film was squashed like a bug within a few years, so not even the Arabs and the refugees who spawned his kind would mourn him with unison or long-standing emotion. Gandhi, Mother Teresa and John F. Kennedy are sweet memories and role-models for individuals and whole nations and generations - Arafat is a collection of bones scattered in the West Bank desert, forgotten within days of his death. Not even his shouting widow's claims as to his killing by conspiring Palestinian politicians evoked any emotion amongst Arabs.

Palestine is a bargaining chip for the wider Muslim world's claim to the Holy Land - that's all. Will Jordan assume the role? Will it be reduced from a legitimate nation and society to a tool of the Muslim world? Will it become the stage for the "respectable" Muslim nations to do their dirty work? The home of terrorists who do what the Saudi monarch, the Syrian dictator or the Iranian imam want them to do at a moment's notice?

Palestine is not a nation - it is a tool, a pawn of its powerful but selfish patrons, a bug to its intended enemies and a general pain in the neck to human-kind. It is an Arab excuse, the Arabic equivalent of a Trojan horse - to be used to deceive Israel and the world in order to destroy the city-fort of Israel.

Do we really want Jordan to become the same? Will anybody want to adopt Palestine?