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Jordan's King Abdullah II strongly rejects the idea of a confederation with the Palestinians in place of a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East, said Wednesday the royal court.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told activists on Sunday that White House advisers Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt had proposed the idea of a confederation with Jordan, one of the activists said.
Hagit Ofran, of the Israeli NGO Peace Now, said that Abbas had told US authorities, who are working on a peace plan, that he would only be interested if Israel was also part of the peace plan. such a confederation.
Abbas' office confirmed the meeting with Israeli peace activists, but did not confirm his comments on the confederation.
Neighboring Jordan, along with most members of the international community, has long supported a two-state solution to the long-standing conflict.
"Every year we hear about a confederation, and my question is: a confederation with whom – it's a red line for Jordan," said King Abdullah.
"Jordan's position is firm and firm: there is no alternative to the two-state solution and the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital" he declared.
"Any proposal outside this framework has no value."
Palestinians believe that the idea of a confederation destroys their long-held dream of a state.
But some, on the Israeli right, consider the creation of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation as a way to avoid the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
They say this would also absolve Israel of responsibility for the 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, currently under Israeli military occupation.
The Palestinian Authority broke off contact with Washington after President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December.
In response, Trump said in January that he would cut off aid to the Palestinians to bring them back to the negotiating table.
The United States announced Friday that it would stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which is helping some three million needy refugees across the Middle East.
Palestinian leaders see these movements as part of an effort to "liquidate" their cause.
