Trump offered the West Bank to Jordan's king, according to a new book. The territory was not his to give away.

• Trump once offered Jordan's king the occupied West Bank, per a new book.
• The king told a friend he thought he was having a heart attack after Trump made the offer, the book said.

President Donald Trump in January 2018 offered to give the occupied West Bank to Jordan's King Abdullah II, saying he would give him a "great deal," according to a forthcoming book, "The Divider: Trump in the White House 2017-2021," which was obtained by The Washington Post.

The occupied West Bank was not Trump's to give away. The US government does not have the authority to offer the occupied West Bank to another person, country, or entity. The territory is at the heart of the one of the most contentious, enduring, and complicated disputes in the world — the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Abdullah II told an American friend that when Trump made the offer, "I thought I was having a heart attack," according to the book, written by Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, and Susan Glasser, staff writer for The New Yorker.

"I couldn't breathe. I was bent doubled-over," the Jordanian monarch added, per the book, which is set to be released on September 20.

A Trump spokesperson did not return Insider's request for comment.

The West Bank, a chunk of land between Israel and Jordan, is a Palestinian territory that has been occupied by Israel for decades. From 1950 to 1967, the West Bank was governed as part of Jordan. Israel seized the West Bank in the Six-Day War in 1967 and Israeli forces have occupied it ever since.

Since the occupation began, groups of Israelis have been moving into the West Bank to establish communities known as settlements. The Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law by much of the world.

The US government has close ties with Israel, but it has long pushed for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and expressed opposition to settlements.

Trump repeatedly undermined this goal by adopting an overwhelmingly pro-Israel stance that included controversial moves such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. The Trump administration also broke from years of precedent in 2019 by announcing that the US would no longer view settlements as inconsistent with international law.

In 2020, the Trump administration released its "peace plan" for the Middle East. Palestinian leaders swiftly rejected the plan, given they were not included in the discussions surrounding it.

The Biden administration has largely returned to the policies the US followed regarding Israel and Palestine prior to the Trump era, including by condemning the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.