MembersJordanian Journalist Calls for More Jewish Settlements in the West Bank

When Israel announced its intention to build 1,355 housing units in Givat Eviatar, a settlement on the outskirts of the West Bank, my own country Jordan condemned the move. Jordan’s response surprised me because relationships between our two countries seemed to be improving when Israel recently began providing my country with water from the Jordan River that we need so desperately.

Israel also began providing Jordan with natural gas a few years ago after the Arabs abandoned us when Qatar and Egypt tried to sell us gas at exorbitant prices. Israel came through for us and is selling Jordan gas at reasonable prices, and the list goes on with Israeli services to Jordan.

But none of this seems to matter. The prevailing Jordan (and UN) view remains that Israel’s construction of settlements outside its 1967 borders is a form of Israeli arrogance, and that Israel is building these settlements as a fait accompli that makes it impossible to establish a geographically contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

But Jordan’s condemnation of Jewish settlement construction...