Jordan has proposed taking the West Bank under its jurisdiction, an Israeli newspaper reported. Citing diplomatic sources, Ma’ariv reported over the weekend that emissaries for King Abdullah suggested recently during visits to Jerusalem that Jordan and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank be turned into a confederation under the Hashemite monarchy. In effect this would revive a deal struck in the 1980s between Abdullah’s late father, King Hussein, and Israel’s Shimon Peres. According to Ma’ariv, the idea stirred mixed reactions in Israel, given fears that the step could worsen relations with Jordan. It also was unclear whether Palestinians would welcome what effectively would be a return to Jordanian rule, as was the case in the West Bank from 1948 to 1967. The Hashemites are the minority elite in Jordan, which was part of Ottoman and British Mandatory Palestine until 1922.
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