Egyptian and Jordanian fears of a Palestinian State

I’ve been talking about Egyptian and Jordanian fears of an independent Palestinian state for years and in fact, discussed  the issue only a few days ago with some of my colleagues. One of the biggest challenges in creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel is that neither Egypt or Jordan really want one, especially not if it requires Israel to cede control of the borders between Egypt and Gaza and the West Bank and Jordan. Egyptian control of the Gaza border would put pressure on the Egyptian government and increase the influence of Hamas and its parent, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, in Egypt while Jordanian control over the border with the West Bank would eventually result in the majority Palestinian population of Jordan wondering why they are not a democracy and one nation. If that were to come to fruition, Egyptians would wonder the same about Gaza. For Egypt and Jordan, the best case scenario is to preserve Israeli military control over those borders. The article by Moshe Arens in Haaretz today is a good description of the problem, though it does not deal with some of the issues that I have elucidated above.