Confederation Idea
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CPA
Jerusalem (JTA) — The con-
cept of a Jordanian- Pales-
tinian confederation in the
administered territories, an
old idea that was revived
last week by some Israeli
and Palestinian leaders, has
already started to fade as a
proposed way of advancing
the Middle East peace talks
at this time.
Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres had publicly floated
the idea, suggesting that
discussion of the final status
of the territories now could
break the deadlock over the
Israeli-Palestinian peace
talks, which are focused on
setting up a transitional
period of Palestinian self-
rule in the territories.
Some key members of the
Palestinian delegation, such
as Saeb Erekat, appeared to
embrace the idea initially.
But now it has become ap-
parent that too many par-
ticipants in the political
arena do not believe the time
is ripe to study new pro-
posals.
The notion of a Jordanian-
Palestinian confederation is
not new at all. The proposal
has emerged periodically,
typically when other
channels of negotiation seem
exhausted.
In 1985, Jordan's King
Hussein and Palestine Lib-
eration Organization leader
Yassir Arafat signed an
agreement that related to
the confederation idea.
Article 2 of the agreement
stated that any possible con-
federation between Jordan
and the Palestinians would
take place only after the es-
tablishment of an indepen-
dent Palestinian state.
Yassir Abed Rabbo, head
of the PLO information
department and a member of
its executive committee, also
made some favorable corn-
ments this week regarding
the confederation option.
He said the Palestinians
were willing "to consider the
option" although he said
there had 'been no discus-
sions with Jordan on the
subject. The statement came
on the eve of a meeting of
PLO leaders in Tunis to re-
evaluate the state of the
Middle East peace talks.
But the other parties to the
deal have raised objections.
Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin said he does not like
the idea, and his Jordanian
counterpart, Abdul Salam
al-Majali, emphasized last
Shimon Peres:
To break deadlock.
weekend that confederation
would be discussed only
after a peace pact is reached
first.
There were news reports,
last week that PLO and Jor-
danian officials had formed a \
joint political committee to
discuss confederation, but
the significance of the corn-
mittee was played down and
the contacts described as just
"coordination."
Opposition to the con-
federation idea also exists
within the PLO.
Ironically, the Palestin-
ians and Jordanians have
largely reversed their
respective positions on the
issue.
When the matter was
discussed in 1985, the PLO
insisted that a confederation
take place only after an in-
dependent Palestinian state
is established. The PLO
feared at the time that King
Hussein would take advan-
tage of the confederation to
retake control of the West
Bank, which was under Jor-
danian rule from 1948 to
1967.
Now the Jordanians are
hesitant about the con-
federation taking place so
quickly, for the opposite
fear: that the Palestinians
would take over Jordan by
means of their demographic,
majority.
Some 300,000 Palestinians J
immigrated to Jordan after
the Persian Gulf War, flee-
ing from the Gulf states
where they were no longer
welcome because of Palestin-
ian support for Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein. ❑