As a result of the war, many Palestinian Arabs from the Jordanian-controlled areas found that union with Jordan was of vital importance to the preservation of Arab control over the West Bank territories which had not fallen to the Israelis. Consequently, in December 1948, a group of Palestinian leaders and notables from the West Bank convened a historic conference in Jericho, where they called for King Abdullah to take immediate steps to unite the two banks of the Jordan into a single state under his leadership.
On April 11, 1950, elections were held for a new Jordanian parliament in which the Palestinian Arabs of the West Bank were equally represented. Thirteen days later, Parliament unanimously approved a motion to unite the two banks of the Jordan River, constitutionally expanding the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in order to safeguard what was left of the Arab territory of Palestine from further Zionist expansion.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan now included nearly one and a half million people, more than half a million of whom were refugees evicted from Jewish-occupied Palestine. All automatically became citizens of Jordan, a right that had first been offered in December 1949 to all Palestinians who wished to claim it. Although the Arab League opposed this plan, and no other Arab government followed Jordans lead, the Hashemite Kingdom offered the possibility of normal life for many people who would have otherwise remained stateless refugees.
UNITED NATIONS CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE: SUMMARY RECORD OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHTH MEETING said:
Mr. de BOISANGER (France) recalled the announcement in the press of a statement made to Parliament by the United Kingdom Government, defining the attitude adopted in London towards Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan following the decision taken by the Parliament of the latter country to annex the territory of Arab Palestine to the Hashemite Kingdom. He thought that although the full text of the statement by the United Kingdom Governments spokesman was not yet to hand, the change in question would seem likely to encourage the other Arab States to negotiate with Israel.
SOURCE: A/AC.25/SR.148 28 April 1950
SOURCE: The Tragedy of Palestine