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Jordan dismisses US’ alleged ‘confederation’ proposal for Palestinians

A report in the Jordanian media on Sunday quoted a government official categorically rejecting a proposal attributed to the US to create a Jordanian-Palestinian “confederation.”

By: World Israel News Staff

Following reports on Sunday that Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas claimed senior White House adviser Jared Kushner had presented a proposal to establish a “confederation” consisting of the PA and Jordan, a Jordanian official issued clear statements rejecting any such proposal.

Abbas’ remarks regarding the Trump administration’s purported confederation plan were made during a meeting in Ramallah with a delegation of Israeli lawmakers and activists with the far-left Peace Now organization.

Abbas’ comments apparently pertained to an August 2017 meeting with Kushner and US special envoy Jason Greenblatt, at which the PA chief claims he told the US delegation that he was amenable to the confederation arrangement, provided Israel was involved.

“They asked me if I believe in a confederation with Jordan. I said ‘yes, I want a triple confederation with Jordan and with Israel.’ I asked them if Israel would agree to such a proposal,” said Abbas according to a TPS report.

In response to Abbas’ comments, Jordan’s Minister of State for Information Affairs, Jumana Ghneimat, told Khbarani News, “Jordan’s discussion of the idea of ​​a confederation with [PA-controlled territory in Judea and Samaria] is not possible.”

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She also deemed linking Jordan to the territory in question “not negotiable.”

Ghneimat reiterated that Jordan’s “consistent and clear” position in the Israel-Palestinian conflict is based on the two-state solution. “States” for purposes of that plan refer to sovereign national entities.

Abbas and the PA have boycotted the Trump administration since the US announced it recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, after which the US subsequently moved its embassy in Israel there.

The US on Friday announced it would completely defund the Palestinians’ dedicated United Nations agency, UNRWA, leaving theGaza Strip without a significant portion of the funds on which it has relied since the Hamas terror group’s violent takeover from the PA.