So, what is the favourite Jordanian dish on the table of international media nowadays? The issue of Mohammad Asha has lost is glimmering dimensions lately, and Petra's win in the new seven wonders competition took the highlights for few days. Now we are back to the most favored subject of all: the confederation between Jordan and Palestine.
Although King Abdullah II has said for a trillion times now that Confederation is refused, the subject is still shining and many media and research institutes tend to focus on confederation either to promote this idea as a potential way out for Israel without giving back land, or to revive the old ghosts of "Jordanian domination of Palestinian aspirations" promoted by many anti-Jordan writers and commentators. However, it will be great if some articles seek to reflect the reality on the ground.
Marc Lynch, the well known researcher and blogger better known as Abu Aardvark tells us about a great night of debates and beverages with Jordanian academics. Equally important is his assessment of confederation option in the eyes of Jordanians where an "overwhelming consensus of Jordanian journalists, intellectuals and politicians, and almost all published op-eds over the last month reject confederation". Dr Lynch kindly quotes me in his article.
The New York Times published another interesting piece from its staff reporter Hassan Fattah from Amman. Mr Fattah met with various Jordanian citizens and journalists and eneded up with interesting and genuine assessments. I mat Mr Fattah for an interview but it seems my ideas were not interesting enough to be published. If someone is interested in my opinion on confederation you are welcome to read it here.
Israeli press joins the debate, and Haaretz published a very controversial article by Danny Robenstein which digs deep in the sad history but then ends up with the true conclusion that Jordanians do not want confederation.
As the King is now visiting Canada it is natural to see Canadian press interested in Jordan. One of the best articles I read is written by Shlomo Brom and based on a study he prepared for the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel where he says that the time is not suitable for such a confederation. A reasonale Israeli voice is always welcome.
The discussions of confederation are always a function of deteriorating conditions in Palestine. Whenever the future looks gloomy the issue of confederation is raised again and my main concern is that the US administration will exert pressure on Jordan to commit the suicide act of being dragged to confederation. It is important to design and develop a civic response against confederation that will not leave the Kingdom exposed. A concerted national position should be developed and defended.
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On the practical level, to have a confederation between the two people,we must have real Democracy for both people,and as far as I know ,Jordan is absolute Monarchy and Palestine is occupied ,therefore this initiative will be a pipe dream for both people.