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Book reveals Jordan king left 'bent doubled-over' after Trump’s West Bank offer

Friday, 16 September 2022 5:39 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 16 September 2022 6:21 AM ]

Former US president Donald Trump (R) shakes hand with Jordan King Abdullah II in a meeting, on September 20, 2017, in New York. (File photo by AFP)

According to a new book which is set to be published soon, former US president Donald Trump offered Jordan's King Abdullah II control over the occupied West Bank in 2018.

Citing Peter Baker and Susan Glasser's book titled The Divider: Trump in the White House 2017-2021, the Washington Post points to the Jordanian king’s reaction as he told a friend: “I thought I was having a heart attack. I couldn’t breathe. I was bent doubled-over.”

According to the book, Trump made this offer in January 2018. This is one of the several new details about his 4-year tenure as revealed by the two White House reporters.

Amman had control over the West Bank from 1948 to 1967 before it was illegally occupied by the Israeli regime. Nearly half of Jordan’s population of 9.5 million is comprised of the descendants of the Palestinians who escaped the war and many of those refugees still live in camps in the country.

Since the start of the occupation, the Israeli regime has been building settlements in the West Bank that are considered illegal under international law. The settlements are said to be one of the main impediments to peace in the region.

Despite signing a peace treaty with Tel Aviv, Amman has not recognized Israel’s 1967 occupation of east Jerusalem al-Quds and other parts of the West Bank.

New book reveals Trump’s fear of Iran’s revenge for Gen. Soleimani assassination

Former US president Donald Trump told his friends before the end of his tenure that he was afraid Iran would try to kill him in revenge for the assassination of Iran’s top anti-terror commander, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, a new book reveals.

Trump’s offer came as Washington had no authority to give away this Palestinian land. The former US president had been condemned by Palestinians for his pro-Israel stances. Among his controversial measures with regard to Palestine was relocating the US embassy to Al-Quds, not considering settlement inconsistent with international law, and pushing for a peace plan which had not included Palestinian rights.

Earlier, the Guardian had also cited the book, reporting that Trump was afraid Iran would try to kill him in revenge for the assassination of Iran’s top anti-terror commander, General Qassem Soleimani,

General Soleimani was targeted in a US drone strike directly ordered by Trump near the Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020. The attack also killed the deputy chief of Iraq’s anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis among others.

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