
The Jordanian option refers to a range of proposals and strategies aimed at resolving the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other eff ...
through the involvement of neighboring
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...
.
Historically, this concept has encompassed various ideas, including Jordan retaking control over parts of the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
, establishing a
federation
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...
or
confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
between Jordan and a
Palestinian state
Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state located in Western Asia. Officially governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (P ...
("Jordanian option"), or envisioning Jordan as a homeland for Palestinians ("Jordan is Palestine"), implying a resettlement of much of the West Bank's Arab population to Jordan and the
Israeli annexation of the territory. The viability and acceptance of the Jordanian option have fluctuated over time, with different leaders and groups either supporting or opposing it at different periods.
The West Bank became a distinct territorial entity when Transjordan (later Jordan) captured it during the
1948 Arab–Israeli War. Jordan subsequently lost control of the West Bank to
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
during the
1967 Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Jun ...
. After the war, Israeli leaders, particularly from the
Labor Party, contemplated returning a significant portion of the West Bank to Jordan. King
Hussein of Jordan
Hussein bin Talal ( ar, الحسين بن طلال, ''Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṭalāl''; 14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 11 August 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of ...
supported this approach, and negotiations between him and Israeli representatives were largely focused on this issue, with proposals such as the
Allon Plan
The Allon Plan ( he, תוכנית אלון) was a plan to partition the West Bank between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, create a Druze state in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and return most of the Sinai Peninsula to Arab cont ...
and the
Federation Plan. In 1985, Hussein and PLO Chairman
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...
formalized a joint position advocating for a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation. The secret
Peres–Hussein London Agreement
The London Agreement between King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres was signed during a secret meeting held at the residence of Lord Mishcon in London on April 11, 1987. Also present in the meeting were Jorda ...
of April 1987 resulted from extensive covert discussions between Israel and Jordan on this matter.
However, in 1988, Hussein renounced Jordanian claims to the West Bank. Although support for the confederation model was expressed by figures such as
Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...
and Yasser Arafat in the subsequent decade, Jordanian officials have since opposed this option and endorsed the
two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict envisions an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River. The boundary between the two states is still subject to dispute and negotiatio ...
instead. Given the limited success of other proposed solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in some corners there are attempts at reconsidering the Jordanian option as a potential resolution.
Background
The
Kingdom of Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
, originally established as the
Emirate of Transjordan
The Emirate of Transjordan ( ar, إمارة شرق الأردن, Imārat Sharq al-Urdun, Emirate of East Jordan), officially known as the Amirate of Trans-Jordan, was a British protectorate established on 11 April 1921, , was created after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
by the victorious colonial powers. Its territory was carved out in 1921 from lands that were part of
British-ruled Palestine, which itself was formed from the remnants of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
.
The state's formation was influenced by the territorial ambitions of its ruling
Hashemite dynasty
The Hashemites ( ar, الهاشميون, al-Hāshimīyūn), also House of Hashim, are the royal family of Jordan, which they have ruled since 1921, and were the royal family of the kingdoms of Hejaz (1916–1925), Syria (1920), and Iraq (192 ...
, led by
Abdullah I, who sought to create a
Greater Syria
Syria ( Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 ''Sura/i''; gr, Συρία) or Sham ( ar, ٱلشَّام, ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other ...
that included
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
,
Syria, Jordan, and Palestine. This plan did not come to fruition.
As Abdullah realized that achieving this vision was unattainable, he focused solely on Palestine, considering it part of a unified entity with Transjordan. In the 1930s, Jordan's rulers began to engage in Palestinian affairs, acting as intermediaries for Arab factions during the
1936–1939 Arab revolt.
The British withdrawal from Palestine in May 1948 presented Jordan with an opportunity to exert control over parts of the region through military action.
In the aftermath of the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan occupied the territory that became known as the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
, originally designated for an Arab state by the
1947 UN partition plan
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as Re ...
.
Jordan
annexed the area, granted
Jordanian citizenship to its residents, and also took control of
East Jerusalem (the UN partition plan proposed all of Jerusalem to become a
''corpus separatum''). The annexation followed several conferences, most notably the
Jericho Conference
The Jericho Conference ( ar, مؤتمر أريحا) was held in December 1948 to decide the future of the portion of Palestine that was held by Jordan at the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, led by Sheikh Muhammad Ali Ja'abari. Pro-Jordanian ...
on December 1, 1948, where Palestinian leaders denounced the Egypt-aligned
All-Palestine Government
, image =
, caption = Flag of the All-Palestine Government
, date = 22 September 1948
, state = All-Palestine Protectorate
, address = Gaza City, All-Palestine Protectorate (Sep.–Dec. 1948 ...
, called for Jordan to annex the West Bank, and pledged allegiance to Abdullah as the king of a unified state.

In 1950, Jordanian citizenship was extended to
Palestinian refugees
Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war (1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War (1967 Palestinian exodus ...
in Jordan, leading them to be content with the
status quo and to actively work on advancing and reinforcing it. In the 1950s and 1960s, King
Hussein
Hussein, Hussain, Hossein, Hossain, Huseyn, Husayn, Husein or Husain (; ar, حُسَيْن ), coming from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-S-i-N ( ar, ح س ی ن, link=no), is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", " ...
(who succeeded his grandfather after his 1951 assassination by a Palestinian and a one-year reign by his father) as well as other Jordanian officials frequently stated that "Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan." King Hussein often emphasized that Jordanians and Palestinians were united as one people with a shared destiny. Due to internal challenges and the influence of
Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language an ...
, Jordan participated in the 1967
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
, resulting in the loss of the West Bank to Israel.
It is estimated that at least 50 percent of Jordan's population is of Palestinian descent.
As of 2023, more than 2 million Palestinians are registered as refugees with
UNRWA
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 P ...
in Jordan, although most are also Jordanian citizens holding national ID numbers.
"Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan": Jordanian concept of full integration
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Jordanian government, including King Hussein and other officials, promoted the slogan "Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan." This reflected the Hashemite strategy to integrate Palestinians into Jordanian society and to present the populations on both sides of the
Jordan River
The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
as a single, unified group. The regime aimed to prevent the emergence of a separate Palestinian identity and power base. Jordanian citizenship was extended to Palestinians both in Jordan and the West Bank, which contributed to their contentment with the status quo and their efforts to support and reinforce it.
"Jordanian option": Palestinian-Jordanian federation or confederation
1967–1970
Jordan joined the
1967 Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Jun ...
alongside
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
and
Syria, and lost control of the West Bank to Israel. Following the war, Israeli leaders, particularly from the
Labor Party, considered returning a significant portion of the West Bank to Jordan as a potential solution to the conflict. King
Hussein of Jordan
Hussein bin Talal ( ar, الحسين بن طلال, ''Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṭalāl''; 14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 11 August 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of ...
supported this approach, and viewed the return of the West Bank as a matter of 'life and death.' He secured a mandate from the
Arab League during the
Khartoum Summit to pursue its recovery, believing that failure to do so within one or two years could threaten his position due to rising Israeli influence and the growing detachment of the territory from Jordan. To secure West Bank loyalty, Jordan provided salaries to numerous employees and financial support to key figures, as well as funded various institutions, including municipalities, which received about 25% of their budgets from Amman. At the time, radical factions within the
Ba'th parties and the
Arab National Movement advocated for transferring power to Jordan's Palestinian majority. They called for establishing a democratic system and replacing
Bedouin dominance in the Jordanian military.

In 1967, Israeli leaders debated two primary options for addressing the future of the West Bank: the Palestinian option and the Jordanian option. The Palestinian option entailed establishing a Palestinian entity linked to Israel through economic and defense agreements, as proposed in the
Allon Plan
The Allon Plan ( he, תוכנית אלון) was a plan to partition the West Bank between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, create a Druze state in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and return most of the Sinai Peninsula to Arab cont ...
by
Yigal Allon
Yigal Allon ( he, יגאל אלון; 10 October 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Israeli politician, commander of the Palmach, and general in the IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Israeli Labor party, and br ...
. This plan suggested
annexing the Jordan Valley and parts of the West Bank to Israel while creating an autonomous Arab region in the remaining areas. However, opposition from Prime Minister
Levi Eshkol
Levi Eshkol ( he, לֵוִי אֶשְׁכּוֹל ; 25 October 1895 – 26 February 1969), born Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik ( he, לוי יצחק שקולניק, links=no), was an Israeli statesman who served as the third Prime Minister of Israe ...
and other ministers prevented the plan from being adopted. Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister
Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan ( he, משה דיין; 20 May 1915 – 16 October 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–1958) du ...
sought input from West Bank leaders and maintained support for both options. However, negotiations with Palestinian leaders were hindered by their adherence to the broader Arab position established at the Khartoum Summit, which rejected negotiations with Israel.
By mid-1968, as progress on the Palestinian option appeared unlikely, Israeli leaders increasingly favored the Jordanian option, which was endorsed by key figures such as
Abba Eban
Abba Solomon Meir Eban (; he, אבא אבן ; born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; 2 February 1915 – 17 November 2002) was an Israeli diplomat and politician, and a scholar of the Arabic and Hebrew languages.
During his career, he served as For ...
following his first meeting with Hussein in May 1968. Early in the same year, Yigal Allon adapted the Allon Plan to propose that Jordan receive full control of the West Bank, rather than establishing Palestinian autonomy. This revised plan was informally presented by Eban and Allon to Hussein in another meeting in September 1968. However, disagreements on critical issues, including the status of Jerusalem and interpretations of
UNSCR 242, led the negotiations to a stalemate.
1970–1980
In 1970, the
PFLP
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary soci ...
hijacked four jetliners in Jordan, igniting them and triggering the "
Black September
Black September ( ar, أيلول الأسود; '' Aylūl Al-Aswad''), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was a conflict fought in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), under the leadership of King Huss ...
", a Jordanian crackdown on
Palestinian fedayeen
Palestinian fedayeen (from the Arabic ''fidā'ī'', plural ''fidā'iyūn'', فدائيون) are militants or guerrillas of a nationalist orientation from among the Palestinian people. Most Palestinians consider the fedayeen to be " freedom fig ...
militants. This period saw a significant shift in Israeli-Jordanian relations, particularly after Jordan's expulsion of Palestinian fedayeen in July 1971. During this period, Israel became a crucial ally for the stability of Jordan, with bilateral relations strengthening through secret talks that resumed in October 1970.
Following the "Black September", King Hussein expressed gratitude for Israeli support during the crisis and explored possibilities for further cooperation. However, when Yigal Allon proposed establishing a framework on the West Bank, which aligned with his earlier Allon Plan, Hussein's response was cautious. Ultimately, Meir's cabinet rejected Allon's proposal, and Hussein instead introduced his
Federation Plan in March 1972. The plan called for establishing a "United Arab Kingdom" with two federal provinces—one in Transjordan and the other in the West Bank—while military and foreign affairs would be managed by a central government in
Amman. Hussein aimed to attract Palestinians away from the PLO by demonstrating that a federation with Jordan was the most promising path to ending the occupation of the West Bank. This proposal, however, faced opposition from Palestinians who were either opposed to Hussein's rule or had reservations about it.
Even after "Black September", most West Bank leaders, except Ḥamdi Kan'an, the Mayor of Nablus, preferred to maintain connections with Jordan. In September 1972, when the
Arab League discussed severing the connection between the West Bank and Jordan, West Bank mayors strongly opposed the idea, arguing that maintaining the connection was essential for political, economic, and humanitarian reasons.
Between March 1972 and September 1973, Israeli Prime Minister
Golda Meir
Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and ''kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to ...
held six secret meetings with King Hussein of Jordan to discuss potential peace agreements and political arrangements. Hussein consistently stressed that any peace agreement would need to include the full integration of the West Bank, including
East Jerusalem, into a Jordanian federation and expressed willingness to demilitarize the area once it was under Jordanian rule. Hussein resisted proposals that deviated from this vision, including a defense pact with Israel, and the implementation of the Allon Plan, which suggested territorial adjustments.
Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...
and U.S. Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the preside ...
both advocated for the confederation during the final months of
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
's presidency, with Kissinger predicting that Israel would have difficulty meeting the
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and st ...
's (PLO) expectations.
Subsequently, in 1977, U.S. President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...
proposed the confederation concept to Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. ...
.
1980–1988
In 1985, Hussein of Jordan and PLO Chairman
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...
formalized a joint position advocating for a confederation, dependent on Israel's withdrawal from occupied territories, which would allow Palestinians to exercise their right of self-determination.
The plan, influenced by the 1982 Reagan initiative, proposed that both parties would negotiate as a joint delegation within an international conference framework. However, U.S. Secretary of State
George Shultz
George Pratt Shultz (; December 13, 1920February 6, 2021) was an American economist, businessman, diplomat and statesman. He served in various positions under two different Republican presidents and is one of the only two persons to have held fo ...
was cautious, concerned that such a conference might pressure Israel unfairly.
On 11 February 1986, Jordan and the PLO signed the Amman Accord, which aimed for a peaceful resolution of the conflict based on several principles: total Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories, Palestinian self-determination within a Jordanian confederation, and the resolution of the
Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war (1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War (1967 Palestinian exodus ...
issue in line with UN resolutions. Jordan's foreign minister at the time,
Taher Masri
Taher Nashat al-Masri ( ar, طاهر المصري; born March 5, 1942) is a Jordanian of Palestinian people, Palestinian origin who served as the 28th Prime Minister of Jordan from 19 June 1991 to 21 November 1991. He opposed the invasion of Iraq ...
, who came from a Palestinian family based in
Nablus, explained that the accord aimed to establish a foundational understanding between Jordan and the Palestinians, based on the belief that Jordan and the PLO should lead the effort to address the Palestinian issue, with the goal of achieving broader Arab approval at an Arab summit.
While the Jordan–PLO agreement raised concerns within the
Reagan administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...
, Jordan later clarified that the confederation would function more like a federation, with
Amman controlling foreign affairs and defense. Jordan also downplayed the role of an international conference, emphasizing the need for direct U.S. engagement with Jordanian and Palestinian representatives and suggesting that the PLO might accept
UN Resolution 242
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (S/RES/242) was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on November 22, 1967, in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. It was adopted under Chapter VI of the UN Charter. The resolution was spons ...
in exchange for some form of U.S. recognition of Palestinian self-determination within the proposed confederation.
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
supported a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation and stressed that resolving the Palestinian issue required cooperation with Jordan. On August 8, 1986, French Prime Minister
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as ...
stated he opposed an independent Palestinian state but supported a Palestinian homeland, noting that the PLO was not the sole representative of Palestinians and advocating for a solution negotiated with Jordan.
The secret
Peres–Hussein London Agreement
The London Agreement between King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres was signed during a secret meeting held at the residence of Lord Mishcon in London on April 11, 1987. Also present in the meeting were Jorda ...
of April 1987 was the outcome of extensive covert discussions between Israel and Jordan on the matter. The agreement called for a conference involving the UN Security Council's permanent members and the parties to negotiate a settlement grounded in UN resolutions 242 and 338. It stipulated that the conference should not impose solutions or veto agreements and proposed direct negotiations through bilateral committees, with a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation addressing Palestinian issues. It required acceptance of the resolutions and renunciation of violence, with negotiations occurring independently and other issues resolved by Jordan and Israel. However, Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir
Yitzhak Shamir ( he, יצחק שמיר, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms, 1983–1984 and 1986–1992. Before the establishment ...
, distrustful of Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...
and fearing potential secret concessions, was reluctant to endorse the plan. He believed the international conference might lead to increased pressure and potential PLO involvement. Following this, King Hussein lost confidence in Peres, then the leading proponent of the Jordanian option, and did not meet with him again until after the Oslo Accord in 1993. During a secret meeting in July 1987, Shamir reassured Hussein that
Likud
Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Shar ...
and the Israeli government supported Jordan's stability.
1988–2000
In 1988, King Hussein renounced Jordan's claims to the West Bank and Palestinian affairs. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw increasing acknowledgment that the "Jordanian option" and various federation-based proposals, which did not include an independent Palestinian state, were no longer available. In 1991, the Palestinians participated in the
Madrid Conference
The Madrid Conference of 1991 was a peace conference, held from 30 October to 1 November 1991 in Madrid, hosted by Spain and co-sponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union. It was an attempt by the international community to revive the ...
as members of the Jordanian delegation.
The early 1990s brought negotiations between Israel and the
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and st ...
, resulting in the
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; peace talks and the establishment of
Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, control over parts of the West Bank, which initially received widespread support from Israelis. Subsequent mass terror attacks by Palestinian factions such as
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad soon shifted Israeli public opinion.
Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...
, an architect of the peace talks with Palestinian leadership in the 1990s, did not view Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza as his preferred outcome or a natural result of the peace process. Instead, he "remained faithful to the idea of a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation," envisioning it as part of a three-way economic partnership involving Israel, a vision he pursued shortly after the Oslo Accords.
Peres believed Jordan's stability and effective governance would provide a solid foundation for any agreement, in contrast to the economic and administrative challenges he anticipated for an independent Palestinian state.
Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...
did not dismiss this idea, and assured Peres that the Palestinian leadership remained committed to a confederation with Jordan, as previously decided by the Palestinian National Council in 1983. He proposed an economic structure akin to
Benelux
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a Political union, politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in ...
, involving Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and possibly Egypt, and suggested open borders for better regional cooperation.
At the time of the
2000 Camp David Summit
The 2000 Camp David Summit was a summit meeting at Camp David between United States president Bill Clinton, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat. The summit took place between 11 and 25 July 2000 a ...
, Jordanian leaders were worried that a Palestinian state could shift its territorial claims towards Jordan, affect the status of
Palestinian refugees in Jordan, and undermine
Jordan's special status over the
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites an ...
. Peres sought to alleviate these concerns by emphasizing Jordan's central role in any regional agreement and securing its status in Jerusalem while inviting Jordanian leaders for reassurance.
2001–today
Jordanian officials have formally opposed the concept of confederation in recent decades. In 2010, King
Abdullah II of Jordan
Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein ( ar, عبدالله الثاني بن الحسين , translit=ʿAbd Allāh aṯ-ṯānī ibn al-Ḥusayn; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of ...
has affirmed his country's disinterest in the West Bank, stating: "Jordan does not want any part of the West Bank. The only credible solution, is the two state solution. There is no Jordanian solution.... the Palestinians want their own state." Ben Ami notes that while King Abdullah has expressed frustration with discussions about a confederation, he has consistently left the possibility open for such an arrangement once a Palestinian state is established, a sequences that reflects the consensus among the idea's supporters in Jordan.

Some in Jordan have hinted their support of the idea.
Prince Hassan bin Talal
Prince Hassan bin Talal ( ar, الحسن بن طلال, born 20 March 1947) is a member of the Jordanian royal family who was previously Crown Prince from 1965 to 1999, being removed just three weeks before Hussein of Jordan, King Hussein's death ...
, Hussein's brother, suggested that the West Bank was historically part of Jordan and hinting at potential re-unification, although his remarks are not officially endorsed by the Jordanian government and remain controversial.
Jordanian opposition to the confederation option resulted in few Israeli leaders advocating it openly.
However, support for it occasionally surfaces. In the late 2000s,
Giora Eiland
Giora Eiland ( he, גיורא איילנד; born 1952 in moshav Kfar Hess) is Major General (ret.) Israel Defense Forces. Eiland is a former head of the Israeli National Security Council. After his retirement from the public sector, he was a senio ...
, who served as Israel's national security adviser under Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon (; ; ; also known by his diminutive Arik, , born Ariel Scheinermann, ; 26 February 1928 – 11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006.
S ...
, authored several articles advocating for a revival of "the Jordanian confederation option of years past."
In 2018,
Ayelet Shaked
Ayelet Shaked (; he, אַיֶּילֶת שָׁקֵד; born 7 May 1976) is an Israeli politician, activist, and software engineer currently serving as Minister of Interior. She served as a member of the Knesset for The Jewish Home from 2013 ...
, then justice minister from the right-wing
Jewish Home
The Jewish Home ( he, הַבַּיִת הַיְהוּדִי, HaBayit HaYehudi) is an Orthodox Jewish and religious Zionist political party in Israel. It was originally formed by a merger of the National Religious Party, Moledet, and Tkuma in N ...
party, supported a vision of merging areas A and B of the West Bank and Gaza with Jordan as part of a confederation, while annexing
Area C of the West Bank to Israel.
In a 2021 opinion article for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Israeli author
Shmuel Rosner Shmuel Rosner ( he, שמואל רוזנר) is an Israeli columnist, editor, and researcher.
He is a contributing opinion writer for the ''International New York Times''.
He is the political editor of the ''Jewish Journal'' for which he writes the ...
argued that while a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation is currently considered unviable—due to Jordan's rejection, Palestinian aspirations for statehood, and international dismissal of the idea as a right-wing ploy—the ongoing lack of progress suggest that this concept may be as feasible as other proposed solutions, and it remains a durable option.
Writing for ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
,'' Israeli diplomat and historian
Shlomo Ben-Ami
Shlomo Ben-Ami ( he, שלמה בן עמי; born 17 July 1943) is a former Israeli diplomat, politician, and historian.
Biography
Shlomo Benabou (later Ben-Ami) was born in Tangiers, Morocco. He immigrated to Israel in 1955. He was educated at ...
suggested that, given the failure of other solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, revisiting the Jordanian option could be worthwhile. He argued that this might be the only remaining path to Palestinian statehood, providing Israel with a reliable partner and potentially ending the occupation of the West Bank.
In a 2021 opinion article for ''
Foreign Policy
A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...
'', Jordanian entrepreneur Hasan Ismaik proposed reuniting Jordan and Palestine by reannexing the West Bank and granting Jordanian citizenship to all Palestinians. Ismaik highlights the historical precedent of Jordan's 1950 annexation of the West Bank, contrasts it with the failed solutions, violence and consistent unrest in recent decades, and asserts that such unification could benefit all parties by enhancing regional stability and economic growth. In 2022, American political scientist
Alon Ben-Meir
Alon Ben-Meir (born 1937) is an American expert on Middle East politics and affairs, specializing in peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. For the past twenty five years, Ben-Meir has been directly involved in various Track II dipl ...
argued that current realities, such as the intermingling of populations and the status of Jerusalem, render a traditional two-state solution increasingly unfeasible. He stated that "independent Israeli and Palestinian states ... can peacefully coexist and be sustained" only through a confederation with Jordan, "which has an intrinsic national interest in the resolution of all conflicting issues."
In 2022, Saudi analyst Ali Shihabi published an article in
Al Arabiya
Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC.
The channel is a ...
, in which he argued that the only realistic solution to the Palestinian issue is the expansion of Jordan to include territories from the West Bank and Gaza, forming "The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine." Shihabi suggested that Palestinians should formally relinquish their claims to full control over Jerusalem, recognizing that dislodging Israel from the city is unrealistic, and instead focus on building a stable, economically viable state. In his view, Palestinians in Arab countries like Lebanon could gain citizenship in the expanded Hashemite Kingdom while retaining full residency rights in Lebanon, akin to EU citizens.
Public opinion
A 2018 poll conducted by the
Ramallah-based
Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) (ar: المركز الفلسطيني للبحوث السياسية والمسحية) is a Palestinian research organisation and think tank based in Ramallah established for "advancing scho ...
revealed that around two-thirds of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza oppose the idea. Khalil Shikaki, a Palestinian political scientist and pollster, attributed this opposition to distrust in the U.S. negotiating team and a belief that the proposal might undermine the goal of establishing a Palestinian state. Israeli journalist
Shmuel Rosner Shmuel Rosner ( he, שמואל רוזנר) is an Israeli columnist, editor, and researcher.
He is a contributing opinion writer for the ''International New York Times''.
He is the political editor of the ''Jewish Journal'' for which he writes the ...
writes that Israelis also generally reject this option because it would involve ceding historically and religiously significant territory to Jordan, which many find unacceptable. Nevertheless, they view the alternatives as even less viable: maintaining a military occupation of the West Bank is not sustainable, a
one-state solution
The one-state solution, sometimes also called a bi-national state, is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, according to which one state must be established between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. Proponen ...
is unacceptable to Israeli Jews, and the
two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict envisions an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River. The boundary between the two states is still subject to dispute and negotiatio ...
seems increasingly unattainable given the repeated failures to achieve it.
"Jordan is Palestine": Palestinians to Jordan, West Bank to Israel
Another perspective on Jordanian involvement in resolving the conflict is the idea that Jordan could act as a homeland for Palestinians by resettling West Bank Palestinians there, a view expressed through the slogan "Jordan is Palestine."
In the 1980s, the slogan "Jordan is Palestine" was endorsed by hardliners within the right-wing
Likud
Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Shar ...
party, who advocated for the expulsion of West Bank Palestinians to Jordan. In 1988, following Jordan's disengagement from the West Bank, King
Hussein of Jordan
Hussein bin Talal ( ar, الحسين بن طلال, ''Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṭalāl''; 14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 11 August 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of ...
announced that West Bank Palestinians would no longer be considered Jordanian citizens to prevent this scenario. During a secret meeting in July 1987, Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir
Yitzhak Shamir ( he, יצחק שמיר, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms, 1983–1984 and 1986–1992. Before the establishment ...
reassured King Hussein that the Likud party and the Israeli government did not support the "Jordan is Palestine" policy. He emphasized that Jordan's stability and survival were top priorities and that they would avoid actions that could destabilize the country. In December 2023, Dutch politician
Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'') ...
posted on X that "Jordan is Palestine!", prompting criticism from the
Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, , Jordan, and several Arab countries.
See also
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One-state solution
The one-state solution, sometimes also called a bi-national state, is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, according to which one state must be established between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. Proponen ...
*
Two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict envisions an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River. The boundary between the two states is still subject to dispute and negotiatio ...
*
Three-state solution
The three-state solution, also called the Egyptian–Jordanian solution or the Jordan–Egypt option, is an approach to peace in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict by returning control of the West Bank to Jordan and control of the Gaza Strip to Eg ...
*
Palestinians in Jordan
Bibliography
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* No Google Books preview (August 2024).
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* No Google Books preview (August 2024).
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References
{{Reflist
Arab–Israeli peace process
Politics of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Israeli–Palestinian peace process
Jordan–Palestine relations
Jordan in the Arab–Israeli conflict