A new/old idea for Palestinian peace

In Jordan and in the Palestinian territories, discussion about a confederation is now appearing in newspapers – one day suggesting that there is real support for it among senior officials, and the next quoting officials who dispel the idea. A poll released this week by Near East Counseling in Ramallah showed that 30 percent of Palestinians currently support the idea. Jordanian officials recently pointed inquiring reporters to a lengthy interview with King Abdullah in Egypt's Al Ahram newspaper. Talk of confederation was "premature," the king said, and that a "future official Jordanian-Palestinian relationship is something to be decided by both after the establishment of an independent Palestinian state."

But one Jordanian editor, who requested anonymity, says the issue is clearly on the table, even though it is politically sensitive. Some Palestinians worry that an internationally dictated solution could be imposed on them. Some Jordanians are concerned about the kingdom's stability, which after generations of being flooded with Palestinian refugees is now hosting up to a million Iraqi refugees. Moreover, many Jordanians point out that while Jordan has ancestral ties to the West Bank, a more distant and violent Gaza looks ungovernable.

"Jordan is interested in a confederation, but it was obvious from these meetings that the Jordanians have reservations" says Dr. Ali Jartawi, the minister of justice in the Palestinian Authority. "Jordan is a stable country, and the Palestinian areas are characterized by chaos," he says. "No country wants to bring that into its domestic context."

The idea of a Jordanian-Palestinian union sounds a lot like the geography before the 1967 Middle East War: the West Bank under Jordanian control and the Gaza Strip under Egyptian stewardship. Israeli officials have expressed interest in a confederation in the past, even before Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1994.

But Jordan's friendly outlook toward Israel and the West does not fit the Hamas outlook. Dr. Jartawi, elected as an independent but considered close to the Hamas movement, says Hamas will oppose a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation because it could hinder Palestinian aspirations for independence. "The Palestinian people are interested in the Jordanian option at the moment," adds Jartawi. "But it's an indication of desperation. Everyone feels that his pride, his money, his property, his personal security are in jeopardy."

Most Palestinians say they see the benefits of a Jordanian role here as primarily economic. But one member of the Palestinian Legislative Council says that he also sees the Jordanian security forces having joint control over crossing areas with Israel, or possibly the Jordan Valley, which Israel is reluctant to relinquish control.

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