Why Jordan rejects a confederation with Palestine

King Abdullah (left) of Jordan is welcomed by President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, during an official ceremony in Ramallah, West Bank, on Aug. 7, 2017. (Getty Images)
Updated 05 September 2018
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Why Jordan rejects a confederation with Palestine

  • Jordan’s position is based on the proposed two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital
  • Jordan’s leadership continues to reject any talk of any form of confederation between Jordan and Palestine before an independent Palestinian state becomes a reality

JEDDAH: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a group of Israeli lawmakers and activists on Sunday that US President Donald Trump’s negotiating team had asked whether he would agree to a confederation with neighboring Jordan.
According to Shaqued Morag, Peace Now’s executive director, who attended the meeting, Abbas said that he would agree to a trilateral confederation that includes Israel. Decades ago, Israeli officials mooted the notion of a confederation between the Palestinians and Jordan.
Such an announcement was received with anger from Jordanians and Palestinians, who insisted that there should be no talk on confederation before an independent Palestinian state was established with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Jumana Ghunaimat, spokesperson for the Jordanian government, said the idea of a confederation between Jordan and Palestine isn’t a subject for discussion. Jordan’s position is based on the proposed two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, she told the told the Ammon News agency.

Origin of the confederation plan
In 1950, elections were held in the two banks of Jordan won by 20 deputies from the East Bank and the same from the West Bank, and the Senate was formed in a fair representation. The National Assembly representing the two countries held an equal session on April 24, 1950, and unanimously approved the unity decision between the two shores on the basis of parliamentary rule.
It is noted here that the resolution was conditional. The second item states: “To affirm the preservation of all Arab rights in Palestine and to defend those rights by all legitimate means and to fill the right and not to prejudice the final settlement of its just cause within the scope of national aspirations, Arab defense and international justice.”
At the time, no Arab country recognized the unity between the two shores. The Arab League Council held a meeting and issued a decision on June 12, 1950, with a reservation on the unity decision.
The 1950s saw a political movement to form a Palestinian organization working to highlight the Palestinian national identity and establish an independent Palestinian national entity. This movement included all Palestinian factions and attracted ideologues in all directions.
In 1964, the Arab League selected Ahmad Al-Shukairy as the representative of Palestine. As a result, the first founding session of the Palestinian Conference was held in Jerusalem under the auspices of the late King Hussein of Jordan, in which the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was decided. The second Arab summit, held in Alexandria on Sept. 15, 1964, approved the establishment of the organization headed by Al-Shukairy with its headquarters in Jerusalem, and the Palestinian flag.
In 1967, the Six-Day War erupted between Israel and the Arab countries, ending with Israel occupying the West Bank and Sinai and the Golan Heights. The Arab states agreed to a cease-fire in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 242.
The war resulted in a wave of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who, fearing the Israeli gangs’ retaliation, left everything behind and escaped to Jordan.
The Arab leaders held a summit in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, in late August 1967 and decided no peace, recognition or negotiations, but the Arab states limited their commitment to ending the Israeli occupation and liberating the territories occupied in the Six-Day War.
Al-Shukairy rejected these decisions and resigned. This led to a period of time until the late Yasser Arafat, the head of Fatah, took command of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
By that time, the PLO had become the sole representative of the Palestinian people, despite Jordan’s insisting on the need for unity between Jordan and Palestine.
On March 15, 1972, King Hussein revealed his plan for a “United Arab Kingdom,” which would be a federation consisting of two federal districts — the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and a Palestinian federal district, which would be located in the West Bank region that was under Jordanian control between 1948 and 1967 and that would have East Jerusalem as its capital.
According to the proposal, the two districts of the federation would be autonomous, except for the military affairs, foreign affairs and security affairs that would be run by a central government located in Amman.
Nevertheless, King Hussein conditioned the establishment of the UAK in achieving a peace agreement between Israel and Jordan. His proposal was ruled out after it was rejected both by Israel and by the PLO and other Arab states.

Disengagement between the two banks
Jordan, meanwhile, continued to carry out its responsibilities in the West Bank without any change. However, this was not to the appeasement of the PLO, which saw this act as a challenge to its existence and to its recognized status by the Arab League as the sole caretaker of all Palestinian affairs.
At the Arab summit conference held in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, in 1974, King Hussein agreed with all the other Arab leaders to a declaration recognizing the PLO as the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.” Consequently, all responsibility for negotiating the return of the occupied Palestinian lands was transferred from Jordan to the PLO. Jordan, however, continued its administrative and financial support to Palestinians in the West Bank.
The pressure continued to mount on Jordan, eventually leading King Hussein to make a decision. In an address to the nation on July 31, 1988, he made his historic announcement, which was one of the most important policy decisions in the era of modern Jordan: Full legal and administrative disengagement from the West Bank.
“Our decision, as you know, comes after 38 years of the unity of the two banks, and 14 years after the Rabat summit resolution designating the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. It also comes six years after the Fez summit resolution that agreed unanimously on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip as one of the bases and results of the peaceful settlement,” King Hussein said.

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The Arab League

The Arab League comprises 22 states, including Palestine. It was formed on March 22, 1945 with six members: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria (now suspended because of the civil war).The Cairo-based forum discusses common policy issues, administers social programs and resolves disputes.

The PLO as well as all other Palestinian factions supported the disengagement. “The disengagement was a courageous step in the interest of the Palestinian people and its struggle, and it achieved a demand by the Palestinian people to push things in the Middle East to a new direction,” said the PLO’s second-in-command at the time, the late Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad).
Despite the disengagement, Jordan at the same time remains the main source of support for the Palestinians at all forums and by all means continued to join the fight to liberate the occupied Palestinian territories and secure the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Beginning of the peace process
The Eighties and Nineties witnessed extensive regional and international changes: The beginning of the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. This was followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union and its socialist system, and the US domination of the UN and the world. These changes have led to the acceptance of peace in the Arab countries, and some have considered peace a strategic option.
This led to the convening of the Madrid Conference in 1991, in which all Arab countries participated. Jordan allowed the PLO to participate under the political umbrella of the Jordanian delegation, but in a way that maintained the independence of the Palestinian delegation.
The aim of the conference was to establish lasting peace for the land in accordance with UN resolutions and international legitimacy.
Co-sponsored by the US and the Soviet Union, this conference was designed to follow up the Egypt-Israel treaty by encouraging other Arab states to sign their own peace deals with Israel.
The conference eventually led to the signing of a peace treaty between Jordan and Israel in 1994. In the meantime, the Palestinian negotiators continued their covert negotiations with their Israeli counterparts until they eventually announced the Oslo agreement.
Jordan’s leadership continues to reject any talk of any form of confederation between Jordan and Palestine before an independent Palestinian state becomes a reality.
King Abdullah has repeatedly said that the people of the countries and no one else can decide a confederation between the two states. He also stressed that as long as Israel continues to occupy the Palestinian territories, there will be no peace or security not only in the region but also in the whole world.


What are US troops doing in the Middle East and where are they?

Updated 12 April 2025
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What are US troops doing in the Middle East and where are they?

  • Since 2023, the Houthi movement has launched more than 100 attacks on ships off Yemen’s coast, which they say were in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war in Gaza with Iran-backed Hamas militants

WASHINGTON: The United States and Iran are set for talks this weekend in Oman as President Donald Trump reiterated this week threats of military action against Tehran if it does not agree to limits on its nuclear program.
Western countries suspect Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, which Iran denies.
If Iran does not make a deal, Trump has said, “There will be bombing, and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”
Here is what we know about the US military presence in the Middle East:

WHERE ARE US BASES IN THE MIDDLE EAST?
The US has operated bases around the Middle East for decades and the largest is Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, built in 1996, based on the number of personnel.
Other countries where the US has troops include Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
There are normally about 30,000 US troops across the region, down sharply from when US forces were involved in major operations. There were more than 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan in 2011 and over 160,000 in Iraq in 2007.
The US has roughly 2,000 troops in Syria at small bases mostly in the northeast. About 2,500 US personnel are stationed in Iraq including at the US Union III site in Baghdad.

WHAT REINFORCEMENTS HAS TRUMP SENT?
The Pentagon has said that it surged additional forces to the Middle East in recent weeks.
It also relocated as many as six B-2 bombers in March to a US-British military base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, which experts said would put them in an ideal position to intervene quickly in the Middle East.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that it was up to Iran to decide whether to interpret this as a message to Tehran.
The Pentagon has also sent other aircraft and more air defense assets including a Patriot missile defense battalion.
Two US aircraft carrier ships are in the Middle East, and each carries thousands of troops and dozens of aircraft.

WHY ARE US TROOPS STATIONED IN THE REGION?
US troops are stationed in the Middle East for a variety of reasons.
In some countries like Iraq, US troops are fighting Daesh militants and local forces. But over the past several years Iran-backed fighters have attacked US personnel who have struck back.
Jordan, a key US ally in the region, has hundreds of US trainers and they hold extensive exercises throughout the year.
US troops are in other countries such as Qatar and the UAE as a security assurance, for training and to assist in regional military action as needed.
The United States is undertaking a bombing campaign against Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen.
DO US BASES IN THE REGION GET ATTACKED OFTEN?
US bases are highly guarded facilities, including air defense systems to protect against missiles or drones. Facilities in countries like Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait are not usually attacked.
But US troops in Iraq and Syria have come under frequent attack in recent years.
Since 2023, the Houthi movement has launched more than 100 attacks on ships off Yemen’s coast, which they say were in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war in Gaza with Iran-backed Hamas militants.
These include drone and missile strikes on US Navy ships in the region. So far, no Houthi attack is known to have damaged a US warship.

 

 


Samaritans mark Passover in West Bank, hoping for ‘peace’

Updated 12 April 2025
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Samaritans mark Passover in West Bank, hoping for ‘peace’

  • “The Samaritans’ Passover is the festival of freedom, the festival of independence, of the forgiveness of our Lord for the children of Israel,” Khader Adel Najer Cohen, a priest and director of the Samaritan Studies Center, told AFP

GERIZIM, Palestinian Territories: Wearing white overalls and red fez hats, dozens of Samaritan men slaughtered sheep for Passover Friday as prayers in ancient Hebrew echoed across Mount Gerizim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
A group of priests in colorful robes recited the sacred verses as younger men in white caps herded the sheep.
“What’s happening here is something that we’ve been doing for 3,600 years,” 30-year-old Abood Cohen told AFP.
Dressed in butcher’s whites, the young Samaritan wore a smudge of sheep’s blood on his forehead as he explained the traditions of his small religious community that developed alongside Judaism.
According to their tradition, Samaritans are descended from Israelites and view Jews as close, yet distinct, relatives.
Many Christians recognize the name through the parable of the Good Samaritan.
“Every family has to bring one sheep,” Cohen said. The animal is then slaughtered and cooked on Mount Gerizim near the West Bank city of Nablus.
“Why do we do it here in Gerizim? Because the holiest place on earth is Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans,” he said.
The community believes this is the place where Abraham almost sacrificed his son for God.
Like Jews, Samaritans celebrate the Israelites’ freedom from slavery in Egypt at Passover.
“The Samaritans’ Passover is the festival of freedom, the festival of independence, of the forgiveness of our Lord for the children of Israel,” Khader Adel Najer Cohen, a priest and director of the Samaritan Studies Center, told AFP.
But the ritual slaughter, as well as the fact that the community’s holiest site is Gerizim, not the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, are two elements that set Samaritans apart from Jews.

Passover is also the time for two Samaritan communities to come together, Abood Cohen said.
Out of 880 Samaritans, half live in Gerizim and speak mostly Arabic, while the other half have lived in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon since the early 20th century, and speak mostly Hebrew.
“They get involved in the Israeli culture more, so they might speak Hebrew more than us,” said Abood Cohen, who works as a tour guide.
Yefet Tsedaka, a Samaritan priest from Holon and editor of a Samaritan community magazine, highlighted the communities’ shared heritage.
“We in Holon are just a branch of the Gerizim, because the high priest is here,” he said.
Sitting next to him, Hosni Wasef Cohen, priest and director of the Samaritan museum, concurred.
“As Samaritans, we all come together here to make the sacrifice. There is no difference between Samaritans here and in Holon.”
Gerizim’s Samaritans have historically strong ties with Palestinians, and some hold political office in nearby Nablus.
But since the war in Gaza and heightened tensions in the West Bank have led to movement restrictions for Palestinians, crowds were smaller this year.
“It’s very different (this year). If there were no war, there would be many guests coming from Nablus — our friends, and our friends from the government would come to Nablus and the Israelis too, and they would all gather here,” said Jameel Samri, a Samaritan priest.
“We hope there will be peace and that everyone can come and see” next year, he added.
Hod, a Holon Samaritan who did not wish to share his last name for privacy reasons, told AFP that “because of the situation we need to reduce the amount of the Arabs that come here.”
A worker in the high-tech sector, Hod added that “we want to be good with the Israel side, because we are Israelis.”
But priest Khader Cohen lamented the distance that the war and the movement restrictions had brought to the communities.
“We used to love that the Palestinians and Israelis would participate with us and celebrate together, because we are a bridge of love and peace between peoples,” he told AFP.
 

 


Israel’s army says it will fire air force reservists who condemned the war

Updated 12 April 2025
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Israel’s army says it will fire air force reservists who condemned the war

  • Soldiers are required to steer clear of politics, and they rarely speak out against the army
  • Israel has imposed a blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle

TEL AVIV, Israel: Israel’s military said Friday it will fire air force reservists who signed an open letter that condemns the war in Gaza for mainly serving political interests while failing to bring home the hostages.
In a statement to The Associated Press, an army official said there was no room for any individual, including reservists on active duty, “to exploit their military status while simultaneously participating in the fighting,” calling the letter a breach of trust between commanders and subordinates.
The army said it had decided that any active reservist who signed the letter will not be able to continue serving. It did not specify how many people that included or if the firings had begun.
Nearly 1,000 Israeli Air Force reservists and retirees signed the letter, published in Israeli media Thursday, demanding the immediate return of the hostages, even at the cost of ending the fighting.
The letter comes as Israel has ramped up its offensive in Gaza, trying to increase pressure on Hamas to return the 59 hostages still being held. More than half are presumed dead. Israel has imposed a blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle. It has pledged to seize large parts of the Palestinian territory and establish a new security corridor through it.
While those who signed the letter did not refuse military service, they are the latest in a growing number of Israeli soldiers speaking out against the prolonged conflict, some saying they saw or did things that crossed ethical lines.
“It’s completely illogical and irresponsible on behalf of the Israeli policy makers … risking the lives of the hostages, risking the lives of more soldiers and risking lives of many, many more innocent Palestinians, while it had a very clear alternative,” Guy Poran, a retired Israeli Air Force pilot who spearheaded the letter told The AP.
He said he’s not aware of anyone who signed the letter being fired, and since it was published, it has gained dozens more signatures.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed the letter on Friday, saying it was written by a “small handful of weeds, operated by foreign-funded (non-governmental organizations) whose sole goal is to overthrow the right-wing government.” He said anyone who encourages refusal will be immediately dismissed.
Soldiers are required to steer clear of politics, and they rarely speak out against the army. After Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel quickly united behind the war launched against the militant group. Divisions here have grown as the war progresses, but most criticism has focused on the mounting number of soldiers killed and the failure to bring home hostages, not actions in Gaza.
Advocates for hostage return keep up the pressure
Freed hostages and their families are doing what they can to keep attention on their plight and urge the government to get everyone out.
Agam Berger, a military spotter who was taken hostage and freed in January, plans to join an upcoming March of the Living Ceremony at the sites of former Nazi concentration camps in Poland. Berger, playing a 130-year-old violin that survived the Holocaust, will be accompanied by Daniel Weiss, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri whose parents were killed by Hamas.
But the war ignited by that attack shows no signs of slowing.
Since Israel ended an eight-week ceasefire last month, it said it will push farther into Gaza until Hamas releases the hostages. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire collapsed, according to the United Nations.
The Israeli military on Friday issued an urgent warning to residents in several neighborhoods in northern Gaza, calling on them to evacuate immediately. At least 26 people have been killed and more than 100 others wounded in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Palestinians lined up at a charity kitchen Friday in central Gaza said shortages of food, fuel and other essentials are worsening.
“There is no flour or gas or wood. Everything is expensive and there is no money,” said Reem Oweis, a displaced woman from Al-Mughraqa in south Gaza, waiting in line for a serving of rice, the only food available.
“I completely rely on charity kitchens. If those charity kitchens close, my children and I will die,” said another displaced woman, Nema Faragallah.
Brazil pushes for the release of body of teen who died in Israeli custody
Also this week, Brazil’s Embassy in the West Bank said it had requested the immediate release of the body of a 17-year-old Palestinian prisoner who died in Israeli custody.
A representative from Brazil’s office in Ramallah, told the AP it was helping the family speed up the process to bring Walid Ahmad’s body home. Ahmad had a Brazilian passport.
According to an Israeli doctor who observed the autopsy, starvation was likely the primary cause of his death.
Ahmad had been held for six months without being charged. He was extremely malnourished and also showed signs of inflammation of the colon and scabies, said a report written by Dr. Daniel Solomon, who watched the autopsy conducted by Israeli experts at the request of the boy’s family.
Israel’s prison service said it operates according to the law and all prisoners are given basic rights.
 

 


Family of Palestinian-American teen killed by Israeli troops seeks justice, US govt response

Updated 11 April 2025
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Family of Palestinian-American teen killed by Israeli troops seeks justice, US govt response

  • Amer Rabee, 14, was shot dead on April 6 while picking almonds near his West Bank home
  • Not ‘a single word of remorse or concern’ from American government, uncle tells Arab News

CHICAGO: The family of Palestinian-American Amer Rabee, 14, who was killed on April 6 by Israeli soldiers while picking almonds near his home in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayyah, is seeking justice and a response from the US government, his uncle Rami Jbara said.

The family has not heard “a single word of remorse or concern” from the US government, Jbara, who lives in the state of New Jersey, told Arab News.

He said Rabee was shot dead while with two other Palestinian-American boys, Ayoub Assad and Abdul Rahman Shehadeh.

“The US will move its army for any American citizen in the whole world except in Israel,” he added. “These kids … were unarmed. They had no weapons on them. They’re 13 and 14 years old.”

Jbara said his nephew was shot “all over — his head, his shoulders, his stomach, his legs,” adding that Rabee was in the West Bank studying at the local high school, living with his parents who had moved back there from New Jersey.

Jbara said Rabee’s father protested to the US Embassy in Jerusalem, adding that this was not the first incident with soldiers or settlers from the settlement of Shiloh just north of Turmus Ayyah.

Settlers have been harassing the town’s residents for years, but the harassment has increased in the past year with “no response” from Israel’s government, police or military, he added.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, representing New Jersey, said Rabee’s death “is another devastating reminder of the horrific human cost of ongoing conflict and tensions in the region.

“There must be a full and transparent accounting of the circumstances around his death and the actions of Israeli security forces.”

Booker added: “I call on the Trump administration to reinstate sanctions on perpetrators of such violence, which directly threatens the objectives of protecting innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians and preventing the war in Gaza and tensions in the West Bank from escalating into a wider regional conflict.”

Palestinians at the Palestinian American Community Center in the city of Clifton, New Jersey, told Arab News that they are meeting to determine how to raise the issue of Rabee’s killing with the US government and to raise awareness of Israeli violence.


Kurdish fighters leave northern city in Syria as part of deal with central government

Updated 11 April 2025
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Kurdish fighters leave northern city in Syria as part of deal with central government

The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh
The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month

ALEPPO, Syria: Scores of US-backed Kurdish fighters left two neighborhoods in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo Friday as part of a deal with the central government in Damascus, which is expanding its authority in the country.
The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh, which had been under the control of Kurdish fighters in Aleppo over the past decade.
The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month between Syria’s interim government and the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. The deal could eventually lead to the merger of the main US-backed force in Syria into the Syrian army.
The withdrawal of fighters from the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces came a day after dozens of prisoners from both sides were freed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that government forces were deployed along the road that SDF fighters will use to move between Aleppo and areas east of the Euphrates River, where the Kurdish-led force controls nearly a quarter of Syria.
Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh had been under SDF control since 2015 and remained so even when forces of ousted President Bashar Assad captured Aleppo in late 2016. The two neighborhoods remained under SDF control when forces loyal to current interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa captured the city in November, and days later captured the capital, Damascus, removing Assad from power.
After being marginalized for decades under the rule of the Assad family rule, the deal signed last month promises Syria’s Kurds “constitutional rights,” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades.
Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement.
Kurds made up 10 percent of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. Kurdish leaders say they don’t want full autonomy with their own government and parliament. They want decentralization and room to run their day-to day-affairs.