Jordan is ready to declare war on Israel in the event that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempts to forcibly expel Palestinians into its territory, Middle East Eye understands.
The warning comes in the wake of repeated statements from US President Donald Trump that he would like to see Jordan and Egypt take in Palestinians as part of a move to "clean out" the Gaza Strip.
Well-placed sources in Amman and Jerusalem told MEE that the last thing Jordan wants is war and it is eager for a peaceful solution. But they are adamant that the Jordanians will close the border if refugees begin to cross into the country.
If the Israelis seek to re-open it, that would be "a casus belli," one source said.
The Jordanians are under no illusion they could win a war with Israel, but believe they would have no choice but to fight.
Jordan previously sent extra battalions to its western borders following an unambiguous statement from Amman that it would view any attempt to force Palestinians across the border as a gross breach of the country's 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
Israel responded by creating a new eastern division to guard its border with Jordan.
One source told MEE that Trump's proposal was an "existential issue" both for Jordan and the Hashemite dynasty, pointing out that the country is the third-poorest in terms of water in the world.
Its 12 million people live largely in a strip of land along the Israeli border, close to the Jordan River. It would simply be unable to accommodate a significant inflow of refugees, they said.
While the Israelis with their vastly superior military resources might quickly win a conventional victory, they would be left having to hold down a sprawling territory with an open desert frontier to the east.
The Israeli border with Jordan stretches for 400km, almost the entire length of the country and 10 times longer than Israel's boundary with Gaza. Much of the border area is mountainous, rugged and in parts almost impossible to police.
This raises the prospect of the kind of protracted guerrilla campaign that ultimately drove the Americans from Iraq and Afghanistan. It would almost certainly draw in fighters from Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Jordan has an open desert border to the east.
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