U.S. PEACE PLAN WILL NOT PROPOSE PALESTINIAN CONFEDERATION WITH JORDAN

American officials deny that the idea was ever part of the plan.

The White House plan for Middle East peace will not include a proposal for a Palestinian confederation with Jordan, senior administration officials told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

Over the summer, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claimed that the US team had floated the idea directly with him, and suggested the proposal was at the heart of their peace plan. But US officials told the Post that the administration has not even considered a confederation since the very beginning of their deliberative process over a year ago.

US President Donald Trump announced at the UN last month that he would prefer a two-state solution to the storied conflict, after dodging the designation since the beginning of his presidency. He said that a peace process remained a high priority for his administration.

The peace team – comprised of the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; Jason Greenblatt, his special representative for international negotiations; and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman – is finalizing the economic components of the peace plan and is expected to release it by the end of the year.