Confederation to ‘liquidate’ Palestinian cause: Hamas

Palestinian group Hamas said a U.S. proposal for creating a confederation between Palestine and Jordan was meant to liquidate the Palestinian issue.

“Confederation means usurping Jerusalem, abolishing the right of return and liquidation of UNRWA,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem said in a statement on Monday.

On Sunday, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said U.S. President Donald Trump's aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt offered him the idea of establishing a Palestine-Jordanian confederation.

Speaking at a meeting with the non-governmental organization Peace Now in Ramallah, Abbas reportedly said he would accept the offer and asked if Israel would be a part of the proposed confederation.

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said people of Palestine and Jordan were the ones to decide on the confederation, according to the official news agency WAFA.

Hamas said Abbas’ talk about confederation between Palestine and Jordan “helps the [Israeli] occupation to be a natural part of the region”.

On Sunday, the Jordanian government rejected the U.S. proposal for creating a confederation between Palestine and Jordan.