Deception is not a novelty in diplomacy; in fact many countries utilise this tactic if it serves their interests on critical issues. Fresh in our memories is the previous experience with the Palestinian-Israeli peace making.

When Israel rejected the idea of a separate Palestinian negotiation at the 1991 Madrid peace conference, Jordan helped overcome this thorny issue by offering the Palestinians an umbrella; thus, a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation went to the Madrid conference. Two years later, PLO head Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo agreement. Jordan was taken by surprise; Palestinians kept Jordan in the dark for months while they were negotiating secretly with the Israelis in Oslo.

A week ago, the Palestinians and the Israelis resumed the peace process in Washington. King Abdullah attended the opening session. Now the Palestinians and the Israelis are supposed to embark on a process of direct negotiations with the purpose of solving the final-status issues within a year.

While it remains to be seen whether this new round of negotiations will ever take off properly, Jordanians have reasons to worry about how this process is going to unfold. Jordan has vital interests in the final-status issues. If the Palestinians concede too much, particularly on the issues of borders and refugees, Jordan will have to deal with the consequences.

In Jordan, some argue that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is weak and therefore susceptible to pressure.

Proponents of this school do not rule out the possibility of Abbas conceding to the Israelis without coordinating with Jordan, just as with the Oslo agreement. I am not talking here about Islamists and some radical forces that oppose the peace process in principle, I am referring to those who are not against peace but do not see any possibility of realising a just and lasting peace.

When Abbas was negotiating with Ehud Olmert, he kept his cards close to his chest and Jordanians were not aware of what was going on. Many Jordanians argued that Abbas would not hesitate to sacrifice Jordan’s interests in the final-status issues to secure an acceptable agreement with Israel.

A former Jordanian prime minister warned that the Palestinians might be negotiating secretly and that this would be at the expense of Jordan. He even suggested that Jordan should be at the negotiating table.

Well, Jordan does not want to be officially at the negotiating table lest it should get blamed for an agreement that does not suit everybody. But, how can Jordan stop an agreement that comes at its expense if it is not part of the negotiation process? This is a question Jordanian officials may wish to consider in the days and weeks ahead.

Jordanians may be good at analysing how the peace negotiations will fail, but there are few, if any, options in case this happens. The King said that if this round of negotiations fails, then instability most likely will engulf the region.

A public debate about how Jordanians can respond to this scenario might be started. However, I am not going to hold my breath, as negotiations seem unlikely to produce an agreement and if they do, it will be bad from a Jordanian perspective.