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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Abdullah rejects W. Bank confederacy |
| 2007-07-02 |
| Jordan's King Abdullah II flatly rejected a confederation with the Palestinians on Sunday, calling any such proposal at the current time a "conspiracy" against his kingdom and the Palestinians, a local newspaper reported. Despite government assertions to the contrary, speculation has mounted in recent weeks that Jordan may want to assume a protectorate role in the West Bank by forming a confederation with the Palestinians. In newspaper remarks published Sunday, Abdullah said he was "fed up talking about this issue." Hussein said a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation was possible once the Palestinians had an independent state. This key US ally fears that any confederation before a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict could give credence to Israeli hard-liners, who have urged making Jordan a home for the West Bank's Arabs. Under a 1950 deal, Jordan administered the West Bank and east Jerusalem until Israel captured them in the Six Day War. Abdullah's father, the late King Hussein, severed administrative links with the West Bank in 1988, handing responsibility to the Palestine Liberation Organization under its late leader, Yasser Arafat. In May, the Israeli Maariv daily said that Jordan was pressing hard for a confederation with the Palestinians. But Abdullah echoed his father's position Sunday, saying it was "premature to talk about the shape of future relations with Palestine and we will not tackle this issue until an independent Palestinian state on Palestinian soil is established." When asked if there was Israeli or US pressure on Jordan to accept a confederation with the Palestinians, he said, "We will not accept such solutions no matter what the pressures are." The king harshly rebuked Israel in the interview, underlining his frustration with its peace policies. Despite cordial relations with his neighbor under a 1994 peace treaty, Abdullah described Israel as a "solid enemy" of the Palestinians, saying the Jewish state "will not achieve the security it desires, unless Palestinian political rights are addressed." Abdullah also rebuked the Hamas for its military takeover of the Gaza Strip last month. He warned that Hamas's conquest of the coastal strip would "undermine Palestinian hopes for ending the Israeli occupation and setting up an independent Palestinians state." The king said he had hoped for a "better outcome" for the Palestinians from last month's Mideast summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm e-Sheikh, but did not elaborate. The meeting brought him together with Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders as a show of support for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #4 armed hamasniks running around in public in the WB, Hamas bombers blowing up PA govt installations in the WB, and Abbas facing the more or less imminent prospect of losing to Hamas on the WB. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2007-07-02 11:06 |
| #3 Define hopeless! |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-07-02 10:31 |
| #2 "calling any such proposal at the current time" IE its not off the table. But this isnt the right time to talk about it. Cause A. Jordan really doesnt want any formal role in the WB. They will take one only IF everything else appears to be failing, and we are NOT at that point yet B. For decades Fatah has stood for an independent Pal State, and against the "Jordan Option" To refloat the Jordan Option now, would undermine Abbas' position. Until it looks like Abbas position is hopeless, its unwise to float the option. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2007-07-02 10:17 |
| #1 Abdullah II flatly rejected a confederation with the Palestinians on Sunday, calling any such proposal at the current time a "conspiracy" against his kingdom LOL, knowing the propensity of Arabs for producing conspiracies in vast quantities on daily basis, it is somewhat ironic that once a while, they may be right, akin to a broken clock that is right no less than twice a day. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-07-02 02:05 |