Jordan’s King Abdullah II rejected recent proposals to establish a confederation with the Palestinians, saying that talking about the issue was “a red line.”
“Every year we hear a renewed talk of confederation. I say: Confederation with whom? This is a red line for Jordan and all know Jordan’s firm and courageous stand on this. I am not worried regarding this matter,” King Abdullah said during his meeting with ex-servicemen and veterans of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army in Amman on Wednesday.
“I have no concerns regarding any conspiracy against Jordan,” he added.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected to meet with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the General Assembly in New York this month, without a major political price.
The Israeli television quoted sources as saying that Abbas told this to mediators, who were tasked by Trump to convince the Palestinian president to meet with him.
According to the Israeli television report, Trump used Jordan and Egypt to pressure Abbas to restore Palestinian-US relations as a prelude to re-launching negotiations.
Trump has asked Abbas, through mediators, to meet him at the United Nations on January 20, where he is scheduled to deliver an annual address to the General Assembly. But Abbas said he would study the proposal only if Trump replaced all the members of the current negotiating team, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, his envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt, and the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, in addition to presenting a political concession or acceptable compensation, which would eliminate previous US positions that are biased to Israel.
The report included information that the US administration informed Palestinian Authority officials that the US-sponsored “Deal of the Century” would be postponed until after the congressional elections in early November and possibly until 2019, if early elections were held in Israel.
In this regard, Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Trump must first withdraw his declaration on Jerusalem.
“We accept as compensation to declare East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine; and without that we will not give him the meeting as a gift,” the sources said.
