WASHINGTON — Jordan has urged the United States to reject an Israeli
plan for a unilateral withdrawal from 90 percent of the West Bank.
Administration officials said Jordan has relayed concern that an Israeli
pullout would endanger the Hashemite kingdom. The officials said Amman
envisions the West Bank turning into a haven for Al Qaida and Iranian- and
Syrian-sponsored groups that aim to destabilize the kingdom.
"The bottom line from the Jordanians was: 'We have enough of a problem
with Al Qaida and Hamas. This makes it worse?'" an official said.
Officials said Jordan's King Abdullah telephoned Bush on May 22, the eve
of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's meeting with the president. They said the conversation —
confirmed by the White House — focused on Israel's unilateral withdrawal
plan.
The official said Olmert was directed by the administration to consult
Jordan regarding any West Bank withdrawal. He said the State Department and
White House would in the meantime seek to bolster the authority of
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
Abbas was believed to have lost control over the Gaza Strip to the new
Hamas-led government. But Abbas's Fatah movement was said to remain in
control over much of the PA territories in the West Bank.
Earlier in May, Jordan said it arrested about 20 Hamas operatives on
charges of smuggling rockets, mortars, explosives and automatic weapons in
the kingdom. Amman said the operatives were acting on orders from Hamas
headquarters in Damascus.
In their meeting on Tuesday, Bush probed Olmert for details of the
withdrawal plan, officials said. They said Bush asked whether Israel would
retain its military in the West Bank or a civilian presence in the Jordan
Valley.
"Israel is not the only pro-Western country that would be threatened [by
Olmert's plan]," former CIA director James Woolsey wrote in the Wall St.
Journal. "How does moderate Jordan, with its Palestinian majority, survive
if bordered by a West Bank terrorist state?"
