Whatever rights Arab residents of Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem may have had to assert any claim to sovereignty over these areas were given over to Jordan.
As I viewed the recent press conference with Jordanian King Abdullah II and President Donald Trump, I couldn’t help but reflect on the history of Jordan and the king’s namesake and great-grandfather, Abdullah I.
After Jordan illegally conquered Judea and Samaria, including the eastern portion of Jerusalem, in 1948, it sought to legitimize its conquest of these areas, which it proceeded to rename the West Bank of Jordan.
On Dec. 1, 1948, it organized a conference in the town of Jericho that was attended by representatives of numerous constituencies within these areas. Among them were the mayors of Hebron and Bethlehem, and together with the other attendees adopted what became known as the Jericho Resolutions. The proposals confirmed the desire of the Arab residents of the so-called West Bank to be immediately annexed to Jordan. Subsequent conferences occurred in Ramallah and then Nablus, which declared their support for the resolutions.