Jordan Drops the West Bank (1988)

To understand today's Golden Oldie requires a brief lesson in history. Back in 1948, the UN called for a Jewish and an Arab state in what was left of Palestine. All of Palestine east of the Jordan River had been set up as an Arab state called Trans-Jordan.

But that was not to be.
Instead,

1. A Jewish State was declared but no new Arab State was set up beside it.

2. The Arab State of Trans-Jordan crossed the Jordan River and occupied the territories West of the River, i.e. the West Bank.

3. In 1967, twenty years later, the Jordanians (they had changed the name of their country from Trans-Jordan to reflect their occupation of the West Bank) attacked Israel and in the ensuing "6-Day War" the Jordanian Army was driven out of the West Bank and back across the Jordan River.

4. In the twenty years following 1967, the Jordanians maintained their claim to ownership of the West Bank. (now occupied by Israel)

5. One theoretically possible deal on control of the "Occupied Territories" and the "Palestinian Problem" involved Israeli recognition of Jordanian interests ...a Jordanian Option... but in 1988 King Hussein of Jordan relinquished all claims to the now troubled area in which PLO violence was on the rise.

And so I did the cartoon above. Back then we didn't have cable TV so the only non-Israeli TV station (We only had one channel) was Jordan TV. (thus the reference to the Jordanian TV weather forecasts which continued to give forecasts for West Bank towns.