Word: palestinians
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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According to sources close to the talks, that is precisely what Hussein told Arafat last week. The King reportedly repeated his support of a Palestinian-Jordanian federation, an idea that the P.L.O. has rejected in the past. Hussein warned Arafat that the Palestinians might be forced to accept something like confederation, despite their desire for a separate nation. Arafat was told by Hussein and West Bank leaders that he had little time to lose: the Israeli settlement program in the West Bank was in effect annexing the area...
...Arafat and a dozen other top P.L.O. leaders assembled in Amman were reluctant to make any firm commitments on the major issues. The P.L.O.'s executive committee must endorse any major changes in policy. Moreover Arafat may seek a mandate from the Palestine National Council, the Palestinian parliament-in-exile. But Arafat authorized Hussein to communicate to Washington the P.L.O.'s interest in at least pursuing the Reagan initiative. That put the burden on Washsington to persuade Israel to be less obdurate about holding on to the West Bank...
...Amman meeting inevitably raised some fears within the Arab world. The Syrians, hostile to Jordan and fearful of losing their role as a champion of the Palestinians, wasted no time in condemning the talks. The Syrian news agency reported that five of the 15 groups constituting the P.L.O. had blasted the Jordanian federation idea as a product of "American schemes" and "reactionary Arab regimes." Three of those groups disavowed that statement, however, and Arafat's leadership did not appear to be seriously threatened. Arab moderates like Saudi Arabia and Morocco, moreover, were quietly encouraging the Jordanian-Palestinian relationship...
...Lebanon, Shamir insisted that the 5,000 to 6,000 Palestinian guerrillas still in northern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley should leave before any Israeli withdrawal began. But he did not totally reject the idea that the P.L.O. might depart at the same time as a mutual Syrian-Israeli withdrawal. Among the security arrangements Shamir did insist on was establishment of a 40-km security zone north of the Israeli border as a buffer against future P.L.O. incursions...
...been the only leader in the region to support openly the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's separate peace with Israel and to endorse the Camp David agreements. Like Ronald Reagan, Qaboos feels that the most realistic possibility for a Middle East settlement is some form of Jordanian-Palestinian confederation once Israel has returned most of the West Bank to Jordan...