Geert Wilders, leader of the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom (PVV), has proposed relocating Palestinians to neighboring Jordan. Multiple Arab states including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Yemen, as well as the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, have condemned the populist, whose party just came first in the Dutch elections.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, branded the suggestion “blatant interference in their affairs,” while Jordan’s officials claim would undermine the rights of the Palestinian people and their pursuit for an independent state.
Wilders’s position is that “Jordan is Palestine.” This refers to the fact its territory was administered by the British Mandate of Palestine before being established as the Emirate of Transjordan.
“There has been an independent Palestinian state since 1946: the Kingdom of Jordan,” he wrote on X (Twitter) in October. “Jordan is Palestine. Palestinian people should be given the right to voluntarily settle in Jordan and freely elect their own government. Let the Hashemite Kingdom become a true democracy!”
The King of Jordan has vowed he will not even take Gazan refugees, however. His allies in Egypt have suggested any Gazans displaced to Arab countries will be sent to Europe.
Hamas complaining about international law 🤡#Hamas https://t.co/5JHGL73s0X
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) November 25, 2023