JORDAN REJECTS WEST BANK CONFEDERACY

Abdullah rejects W. Bank confederacy (JPost)
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."

"We reject the formula of confederation and federation and we believe that proposing this issue at this specific period is a conspiracy against both Palestine and Jordan," Abdullah told the independent Al-Ghad newspaper.

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 1967 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.

Hussein said a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation was possible once the Palestinians had an independent state.

In May, the Israeli Maariv daily said that Jordan was pressing hard for a confederation with the Palestinians.

SEE: ABBAS LOOKS TO JORDAN FOR HELP