The Third Target (32 page)

“You are aware that the Israelis and Palestinians are about to announce a final, comprehensive peace agreement that will, after far too many years, finally establish a sovereign Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza, correct?” the king continued.

“I’ve seen mixed reports in the press, Your Majesty,” I replied. “But if we are off the record, I will say I have heard the same thing from several trustworthy sources, including President Taylor. I understand you have played a key role.”

“Prince Marwan and I have lost a lot of sleep in recent months, but it has all been worth it,” he said.

“Every issue has been solved?” I asked.

“Remarkably, yes,” he said.

“The borders?”

“The Israelis agreed to relinquish about 94 percent of the West
Bank and all of Gaza. There are land swaps. The Israelis will keep all the major settlements but will dismantle and evacuate the smaller ones. In return, the Israelis have carved out sections of the Negev and parts of the Galilee region to give to the Palestinians to compensate for the 6 percent of the land on which the major settlements are located.”

“And Jerusalem?”

“The Palestinians will have their capital in East Jerusalem.”

“All of it?” I asked.

“Parts of it,” the king said. “The Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Temple Mount will be managed by a special committee, chaired by Jordan and including the Palestinians, Israel, the U.S., and Saudi Arabia. The Palestinians will have sovereignty over the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.”

“What about the Jewish, Christian, and Armenian Quarters?”

“Israel will control those,” the king said. “Each side will guarantee access for adherents of all religions to their holy sites. Meanwhile, the Israelis will have sovereignty over Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives and will control the current tunnel from the West Bank into Jerusalem. The Saudis and Americans will finance the building of a separate tunnel leading from Arab towns into East Jerusalem. And the Palestinians will establish government offices near the Damascus Gate.”

“Prime Minister Lavi agreed to all that?”

“Mr. Collins, my good friend Daniel
proposed
all that,” the king replied.

I wondered if I looked as surprised as I felt.

“It wasn’t such a stretch for him,” the king added. “Daniel was on the negotiating teams with Ehud Barak at Camp David in 2000. He was a key aide in helping Ariel Sharon with the disengagement in 2005. And he was a senior advisor to Olmert in 2008. He’s been working on these issues for a long time.”

“President Mansour wanted more, no doubt,” I said.

“He did.”

“But you persuaded him to take the deal?”

“Salim and I had many long talks,” the king said. “He is not Yasser Arafat. Nor is he Mahmoud Abbas. They weren’t ready for peace. Salim is. The Palestinians are ready. It’s time.”

“What about refugees?”

“Palestinian refugees will have the right to return to the Palestinian State
 
—as many as want to,” the king replied. “But Daniel conceded East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital on the condition that Salim not insist on the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel en masse. In the end, the Israelis agreed to accept fifty thousand refugees
 
—five thousand per year for ten years
 
—so long as each one is vetted by their security services and does not pose a security threat. This was actually the most contentious part of the negotiations and certainly took the longest. The formula is very close to what Olmert proposed in 2008, but Olmert was only offering visas for a total of five thousand Palestinians to enter Israel. This is ten times as many.”

“Water rights?”

“It’s a complicated formula. It divides the water between the Palestinians, the Israelis, and us, but it’s consistent with the treaty my father signed with the Israelis in 1994.”

“And what about security arrangements?” I asked.

“The short version is this,” King Abdullah replied. “The Palestinian State will be demilitarized. They will have police and border security forces, of course, but no army, no air force
 
—except a specified number of helicopters for surveillance and medical rescue purposes
 
—and no significant navy except patrol boats to protect the Gaza coast. No rockets or missiles are permitted on Palestinian territory. No launchers. No new tunnels. We and the Israelis are responsible for security in the Jordan River Valley. The Israelis will have seven manned outposts in the valley, but they will rent the land from
the Palestinians. The Israeli Air Force will maintain security over all airspace west of the Jordan. We’ll do the same on the east side. The rest of the security in the corridor will be highly coordinated between all three sovereign governments.”

“This sounds a lot like a confederation,” I said.

“In some ways it is, yes,” the king conceded. “But everyone has specifically agreed not to call it a confederation.”

“Why not?”

“Because Salim says that the very word infuriates Palestinians, dishonors them, makes them feel like they don’t have true sovereignty.”

“And you?” I asked.

“I want to honor our neighbors,” the king replied. “If they don’t like the term, I’m happy not to use it.”

“But you’re satisfied the security arrangements will protect your kingdom?”

“I am,” he said. “Look, no one has been more supportive of a sovereign Palestinian State than my father and me. My father made a terrible gamble in 1967. He listened to Nasser’s lies, and in so doing he lost Jerusalem and nearly half his kingdom. We learned a great deal from that disaster. One lesson was that it was not the will of Allah for Jordan to control the West Bank. That was painful to accept. Very painful. But accept it we have. What we cannot accept, however, is creating a security vacuum on the west side of the river. We want the Palestinians to have a strong security force. We are happy to help fund their training and equip them with whatever they need. But we need to make sure all security issues in the corridor are carefully coordinated. These were not the most contentious elements of the negotiations, but they were among the most time-consuming. In the end, I was and am satisfied.”

“So everything is set?” I asked.

“It is,” the king said. “In fact, President Taylor called me not ten minutes ago to go over the final details and to review the rollout plan.
I told him I was about to meet with you. He asked me to tell you he’s glad you are safe and that he looks forward to discussing Abu Khalif with you directly.”

“That’s very kind,” I said. “When does he touch down in Israel? And are you going to Jerusalem for the big announcement?”

“The president is not going to Jerusalem, and neither am I, Mr. Collins.”

“Why not?” I asked, wondering what I had just missed.

“The ‘big announcement,’ as you call it, will be held tomorrow afternoon,” the king said. “But it will not be held in Israel. It will be right here, at the palace.”

“Here? Tomorrow? How is that possible?” I asked.

The king smiled. “It’s going to take a lot of work, but my team will be ready.”

The large trucks and all the workers out in front of the palace now made sense. The staff of the Royal Court was going to be working through the night to prepare for the arrival of the president of the United States, the Israeli prime minister, the Palestinian president
 
—and all the staff, security, and media that were coming with them.

“Does anyone have this story yet?” I asked.

“That everyone’s coming here?”

“Right.”

“No, not at all,” the king said. “Each leader has gone to great lengths to keep any details from the media. In part, that’s to create the biggest media impact. It’s also for security purposes. But again, tomorrow’s events aren’t what worry me.”

“Why not?” I pressed. “All four leaders here at the same time present a tempting target, do they not, especially to ISIS?”

“Look, Mr. Collins, Jordan’s security services are first-rate. The U.S. Secret Service is helping us. So are the Israeli and Palestinian security services. We’ll be fine. What worries me more
 
—and this
is absolutely off the record
 
—is that this weekend I am flying to Baghdad for a series of meetings with the prime minister on the ISIS threat and the future of Iraq. Frankly, if ISIS is looking for a window of vulnerability, that is it.”

“Can I go with you?” I asked.

“You really want to?”

“Absolutely.”

For the first time, the king turned to Prince Marwan and his intelligence director. I couldn’t read the signals, but the king didn’t say no. Rather he asked for a day to think about it, which I took as a positive sign.

Returning to the issue at hand, I asked why all the media leaks were indicating that the peace treaty ceremony was going to be held in Jerusalem.

“Jerusalem was the original plan
 
—that’s why you’ve seen these leaks in the last twenty-four hours,” he explained. “But Salim and Daniel couldn’t agree over exactly where to hold it, and in the end, Salim called me and asked if I would host the whole thing here.”

“Meanwhile, the Israelis are literally rolling out the red carpet,” I said. “But it’s all a head fake?”

“It didn’t start that way, but now, yes, I guess it is,” the king agreed. “We will have a wonderful crowd at the peace ceremony, but none of them know that’s what they’re coming for.”

“Then what do they think they’re coming for?”

“There is an awards ceremony beginning at 2 p.m. with about five hundred high school students from all over Jordan and the West Bank. There is even a delegation of Israeli students coming, about fifty, I believe. The brightest students in their schools are supposed to meet with my son and various ministers. Then I am scheduled to deliver the keynote address. All the students arrived in Amman this morning. They’re touring the city all day. When they arrive here tomorrow, they will go through security and then
learn that they are participating in the most important event of this millennium.”

“And the awards ceremony?”

The king smiled again. “Everything has been thought of, Mr. Collins. It will be held at the performing arts center downtown the following day.”

“What time do the various government delegations arrive?” I asked.

The king turned to Kamal Jeddeh.

“President Mansour and the Palestinians arrive late tonight,” the intelligence director explained. “As a matter of fact, the entire Palestinian delegation is staying at your hotel, Le Méridien. If it is all right with His Majesty, perhaps we can arrange for Mr. Collins and President Mansour to have breakfast in the morning and do an interview.”

“Absolutely,” the king said. “That’s a good idea.”

“I’d like that, Your Majesty; thank you,” I replied. “And the Israelis?”

The head of the Mukhabarat addressed that question as well; clearly it was his responsibility to keep all these delegations safe.

“As you can imagine, it’s difficult for Prime Minister Lavi to travel without the press noticing. But he’ll depart Ben Gurion at 10 a.m., touch down here in Amman around ten thirty, and be brought by helicopter to the palace no later than eleven. His advance team is already here, and most of his security detail arrives less than an hour from now.”

I turned to the king. “Could we arrange for me to have lunch with Danny Lavi?” I asked.

“I’m afraid not,” the king replied. “He and Salim and I are having an early working lunch. But we’ll make sure you get a meeting with him at some point.”

“And what about President Taylor?”

“Air Force One touches down at one,” Jeddeh said. “President
Mansour, Prime Minister Lavi, His Majesty, the crown prince, and Prince Marwan will greet him at the airport, do a photo op, and then all come back here for the official ceremony. I’ll make sure we get you a final, detailed schedule in the morning.”

“Thank you,” I said. “But with all due respect, Your Majesty, what good is the exclusive you’re giving me tomorrow if hundreds of reporters will be here from all over the world as well?”

“None of them will have backstage access to the principals except you,” the king said. “You’ll be in the limousine when we pick up President Taylor. You’ll be sitting directly behind me during the ceremony. You’ll be privy to conversations and details that no one else will have.”

“Why me?”

“Why not?” He smiled. “If you would prefer, I can certainly give this to one of your competitors.”

“No, no, don’t get me wrong,” I replied. “I’m very grateful. Just curious why I’ve been granted such a favor.”

“It is simple, really,” the king replied. “You’re the only reporter in the world to have actually met and interviewed Abu Khalif. We want to send him a message.”

“And what message would that be?”

“That he cannot win,” the king said. “That peace and moderation and tolerance will prevail.”

Sitting back for a moment, I carefully considered what he was telling me. I was intrigued and impressed with Abdullah bin al-Hussein, both as a monarch and as a Reformer. He was actively trying to lead his small, oil-less, but vitally important nation toward progress and freedom, toward tolerance and modernity. He was keeping close ties with the Arab world. But he was also working hard to maintain a close friendship with the United States and the European Union. On top of all that, he was maintaining his nation’s courageous peace treaty with Israel despite all manner of trials. Now he was trying to
help the Palestinians and Israelis make peace, even while standing strong against the radical forces in the region. It was not an easy task.

The Radicals
 
—al Qaeda, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the mullahs in Iran, to name a few
 
—desperately wanted to topple the king and seize Jordan for themselves. In the last few years, the Radicals had seized Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, albeit briefly, and they were presently fighting to grab Syria and Iraq too. Would Jordan be next? I hoped the answer was no. But Abu Khalif had told me he planned to strike again soon. And common sense suggested the king was a prime target. Did he not see it this way? I needed to persuade him to go on the record
 
—immediately, for tomorrow’s paper. But how?

“Your Majesty, may I ask you a question?” I said finally, leaning forward.

“By all means,” he said. The man was nothing if not gracious. The bedouin tradition of hospitality was deeply ingrained in him.

“I realize there is much you don’t want to say until all the principals initial the comprehensive peace treaty tomorrow, and I respect that enormously,” I began. “But there are two facts I need to address. The first is that my editor expects me to file a story from the region by midnight tonight so it can make it into tomorrow’s newspaper. The second is that given the events of the last few days and the threats made specifically against you and your kingdom, I would think that it is important for everyone in Jordan
 
—but especially everyone in Israel
 
—to hear from you directly on how seriously you’re taking ISIS and what security measures you’re implementing to ensure not only that tomorrow goes well but that Jordan remains the vital cornerstone of security in this corridor over the long haul. So my question, Your Majesty, is simply this: Would you be willing to do a short interview with me right now to explain why you are so confident that Jordan will play a major role in securing this peace, no matter what Abu Khalif is saying?”