That's the gist of a proposal put forward earlier this week that would name an official Palestinian homeland. The only problem is that the homeland would be Jordan (and no one asked the Jordanians what they thought of this idea before proposing it).
The proposal’s supporters argue that it just makes sense since more than half of the folks in Jordan can trace their roots back to Palestine. But critics say that the proposal is just a thinly-veiled attempt to expel all of the Palestinians from the West Bank, and the proposal has already caused an uproar in Jordan, putting more stress on an already strained relationship between the Israeli and Jordanian governments.
The proposal was put forward by the National Union party, which holds only four seats in the Knesset. Some are saying that the National Union only put the idea forward to cause problems for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because he didn't include their party in his governing coalition. Netanyahu slammed the Jordan proposal. But members of Jordan's parliament respond by pointing out that the proposal then received 53 votes in the 120-member Knesset, an indication, they say, of broader support for the idea.
Expect a lot more on this topic in the next few days as Barack Obama conducts his whirlwind tour of the Middle East.
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