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Last update - 23:21 26/05/2009

Israel disavows MK's proposal to turn West Bank over to Jordan

By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent

Tags: Palestinians, peace process

The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday distanced itself from a contentious proposal made by a right-wing lawmaker, who suggested Israel to turn Palestinian population centers in the West Bank to Jordanian jurisdiction.

The proposal, raised last week by National Union MK Aryeh Eldad, was brought to the table on Tuesday at a Knesset conference organized by Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely on alternatives to the two-state solution.

Eldad told lawmakers during a Knesset plenum last week that Palestinians must be given Jordanian citizenship, claiming that Jordan is essentially the Palestinian state.

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The idea is a nonstarter with Israel's Arab neighbor and conflicts with U.S. President Barack Obama's support for a Palestinian state.

Jordan lodged a strongly-worded protest with Israel on Tuesday over the proposal.

Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh summoned the Israeli ambassador in Amman, Yaakov Rosen, and handed him a protest that "categorically rejects the ongoing discussion at the Israeli Knesset on a proposal by one of its members entitled 'two states for two peoples on the two banks of River Jordan'," a statement carried by the official Petra news agency said.

Judeh reiterated Jordan's attitude which supports the establishment of "an independent and viable Palestinian state on the Palestinian national soil in accordance with the two-state solution which should be based on relevant UN references and the Arab peace initiative", the statement said.

The setting up of a Palestinian state that lives in peace with Israel "represents a supreme strategic interest for Jordan", the
minister was quoted as telling the Israeli envoy.

In response, the Foreign Ministry declared that it respected its peace agreement with Jordan and did not stand behind Eldad's proposal.

The Jordanian government has come under mounting pressure over the past days from the Islamic-led opposition, trade unions and local columnists to respond strongly to Eldad's proposal.

Ex-IDF Chief: Stop pushing for imminent peace

Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who participated in the conference on Tuesday, said past peace plans urging Israel to give up captured land to the Palestinians have failed.

"The Western way of thinking has proven irrelevant and dangerous to this region," the former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff said, adding that Israel should stop looking for an immediate solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.

"We have to disavow the commonly held perception that we should find an imminent solution," he added. "The Disengagement from Gaza in 2005 was the Palestinians' golden opportunity to show the world that the end of the occupation would lead to political and economic stability."

"Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza and the ongoing missile fire at Israel proves that the problem was not the occupation. For them, the entire land, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, is occupied."

"[Late Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser] Arafat came very close to achieving independence, but he chose to launch a war against Israel in September 2000 instead," he said. "The issue wasn't the ability to give them independence, but their desire to get it."

"Instead of a state, Arafat chose to set up a terror regime," Ya'alon continued. "Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] is behaving the same way and exercises political weakness as a strategy."

Around 200 people attended the conference on Tuesday, including Knesset members and representatives of the Yesha council of West Bank settlements.

Organizer MK Hotovely stressed that the forum did not represent "an assembly of Likud rebels," but that it aimed to open channels of thinking on ways of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict aside from the two-state plan.

Hotovely said the conference was intended to "strengthen the hand of the prime minister, returning from Washington after standing firm againstU.S. President Barack Obama."

Related articles:

Ya'alon: Every prisoner swap encourages more kidnappings

Former IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon joins Likud

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1.	Same old, same old	17:24	\|	Steve of Minneapolis	26/05/09

2.	There is no fast track solution to Peace	17:44	\|	Stephen.	26/05/09

3.	No fast peace and likely not at all	18:07	\|	DT	26/05/09

4.	Nobody needed the confirmation	18:22	\|	Axel	26/05/09

5.	At least not until Ariel Sharon`s wall/fence is completed	18:26	\|	Witness	26/05/09

6.	I really would not call 40 years of occupation fast track	18:27	\|	American in NY	26/05/09

7.	This is a brillian plan	18:34	\|	Jennifer	26/05/09

8.	Keep Fiddling	18:38	\|	Montoya	26/05/09

9.	mr.ayalon wants the one state for all solution	18:49	\|	abraham	26/05/09

10.	We NEED a 2-state solution on `67 borders	18:50	\|	Arie	26/05/09

11.	I have met this kind of Zionist	18:50	\|	Axel	26/05/09

12.	Yalon a likud peacenik?	18:51	\|	jim the mechanic	26/05/09

13.	pals want peace just not thier leaders	18:59	\|	ben	26/05/09

14.	response to #5	19:01	\|	Shira	26/05/09

15.	#3 Dt, Dito, you are absolutely correct. Just yesterday Haaretz	19:03	\|	Ex Peace Now member!	26/05/09

16.	We WillNot Give Any More Of OUR Land To Anyone Else	19:27	\|	Yishai Kohen	26/05/09

17.	West Bank	19:31	\|	D.C.Tapley	26/05/09

18.	To Stephen #2 `There is no fast track to peace`	19:38	\|	Colin Wright	26/05/09

19.	Not One More Grain Of Sand	19:39	\|	crlman	26/05/09

20.	Jordan	19:40	\|	Ralph	26/05/09

21.	It is Great Seeing Israelis in the Open Shunning Peace & Calling	19:54	\|	Monitor	26/05/09

22.	No, Just Annes A Big Chunk Of The West Bank!	19:54	\|	Heather Czerniak	26/05/09

23.	#5 American in NY	19:56	\|	H	26/05/09

24.	negotiate with Abbas? Hamas?	20:11	\|	eliyahu	26/05/09

25.	Yaalon always had more smarts than the whole lot of the others	20:15	\|	IW	26/05/09

26.	2 states for 2 peoples? There are already 2 states	20:25	\|	Nechama	26/05/09

27.	The Jordanian-Egyptian Option based on strict application of 242	20:26	\|	Bernard	26/05/09

28.	The fact is Jordan is Arab Palestine, no matter what people like	20:31	\|	David	26/05/09

29.	Correct !	20:32	\|	Henry	26/05/09

30.	What`s ours is ours, what`s yours is ours, what`s theirs is ours	20:54	\|	Natallie Durson	26/05/09

31.	JORDAN is 78% of PALESTINE MANDATE; JORDAN`S POPULATION is 80%	20:59	\|	Judean	26/05/09

32.	This is the ONLY realistic proposal & Obama must take note	21:01	\|	ZISD	26/05/09

33.	NO LEADER IS PRAGMATIC; 8 miles wide is SUICIDE. 8 miles wide is	21:02	\|	Judean	26/05/09

34.	Israel the jewish homeland 1000`s of years before Arab invasion &	21:09	\|	Judean	26/05/09

35.	Its Deja Vu All Over Again	00:15	\|	Binyamin	27/05/09

36.	Courts need to replace the bombs	00:56	\|	julie	27/05/09

37.	Arie BaGolan, Really?? (#10)	01:33	\|	Steve	27/05/09

38.	The Problem with Jordan	01:34	\|	MIKE	27/05/09

39.	Israel disavows MK proposal to turn West Bank...	01:42	\|	David Azulay	27/05/09

40.	Steven hiding i th eSwiiss sanctuary; what was teh excuse before	02:16	\|	American in NY	27/05/09

41.	You have to admire the propaganda heading...	02:44	\|	Johnboy	27/05/09

42.	Jordanian Protectorate	03:15	\|	Matthew Houston	27/05/09

43.	Clearly some sane individual	05:07	\|	Mark Lincoln	27/05/09

44.	Disavows? Maybe, but it will happen eventually, inevitable	05:20	\|	David	27/05/09

45.	Defeatist Dave`s Demographics (#37)	05:42	\|	Steve	27/05/09

46.	Since the Pals have not built a nation with ALREADY returned land	08:03	\|	ks	27/05/09

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