Liberman Proposes Jordanian Control of West Bank Areas A and B, Sparks Outrage

Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, has proposed an arrangement with Jordan wherein Amman would assume security and administrative responsibility for Areas A and B in the West Bank. In an interview, Liberman stated that the Palestinian Authority is "bankrupt" and requires an external entity to manage these territories. He suggested that Jordan has a vested interest in managing the Palestinian population, which constitutes 80% of its own population, and that this would allow Israel to focus on other threats, such as Iran, Syria, and the Houthis.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently rejected Liberman's proposal, stating, "I knew you were on the left since you formed a government with Mansour Abbas. I know you are on the left because you would form a government with Eisenkot, Yair Golan, Bennett, and the Arab parties. But I did not believe you would propose today that the Jordanian army control areas of the Land of Israel. Retract immediately!"

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also strongly criticized the idea, writing, "Listen to Liberman: someone who presents himself as a man of the right is suggesting we give up our security responsibility in Judea and Samaria and transfer it to the Jordanians! To the Jordanians! Liberman wants to return Israel to the days of the Jordanian Legion. This must not be allowed to happen."

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli called Liberman's statement "a hallucination from the land of hallucinations," adding that a Jordanian army in the hills of Judea and Samaria is "one of the most irresponsible and dangerous ideas imaginable."