The Hashemite king's ability to ride this tiger can only be made more difficult, however, if the Bush Administration succeeds in creating a Palestinian state on the West Bank of the Jordan River.

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Not far from Jericho, the River Jordan squiggles through the desert dividing the West Bank from Jordan.

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Earlier on Wednesday, he visited Qasr el Yahud - the site on the West Bank of the River Jordan where Israel says Jesus was baptised.

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Mr Bennett combines talk of Jewish spiritual renewal with an implacable hostility towards the creation of a Palestinian state on the West Bank of the River Jordan and in Gaza - the so-called two-state solution which has been the cornerstone of international diplomacy in this region for decades.

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On Wednesday, Jordan sent a convoy of trucks across the Jordan River packed with relief aid for Palestinians under Israeli curfew in the West Bank.

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When talking about Palestine, the speaker is referring to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River that includes the Jewish state of Israel and the Palestinian lands of the West Bank and Gaza.

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And since the Mandate envisioned a Jewish state on both banks of the Jordan River, at a minimum the peace treaty sets a precedent for a future annexation of the west bank of the Jordan.

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