In a recent interview with the BBC, King Abdullah II of Jordan posed an uncomfortable question. “What is the mandate of security forces inside of Gaza?” he asked. Peacekeeping might be viable, but, he warned, “if it’s peace-enforcing, nobody will want to touch that.”
His comments left me feeling deeply conflicted. On the one hand, they echoed an old pattern, in which Arab countries voice their support for the goals of the Palestinian people, such as gaining statehood or disarming Hamas, but show no inclination to do the heavy lifting themselves. On the other hand, King Abdullah is surely correct that no Arab or Muslim country will want to place its soldiers between Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces. Enforcing the cease-fire against Hamas would risk it being cast as the aggressor against the terror organization, which enjoys significant support within these countries’ radicalized populations.
The cease-fire process seems to have stalled, especially with respect to Hamas’s disarmament, which is a core component of Don
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