Shimon Peres, then foreign minister of Israel, held a secret meeting with king Hussein of Jordan in London, in April 11 1987. The subject of the discussion was the possible return of the West Bank, or at least most of it, to Jordanian control. Unfortunately, the talks ultimately went nowhere due the opposition of the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, and Jordan withdrew its claim to the West Bank after the First Intifada.

Suppose that Alignment (Peres' party) gets a better result in the 1984 Israeli election, allowing them to rule alone instead of having to share power with Likud. This means that Peres ends up serving as prime minister for four whole years (from 1984 until 1988, instead of just until 1986 like IOTL), thus giving him a stronger hand in any negotiations with Jordan over the status of the West Bank. Could Peres start talks with Hussein earlier ITTL, and, since Shamir won't be in a position to muck things up, is there a chance the "Jordanian Option" could go ahead? Assuming most of the West Bank is given back to Jordan, how would conditions there evolve compared to OTL?
 
Top