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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 February 1999 Issue No. 417 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 February 1999 Issue No. 417
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Special Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters No takers in Amman
By Khaled DawoudTHE JORDANIAN government and opposition parties alike reacted angrily this week to the proposal by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for a confederation with Jordan.
Jordanian Prime Minister Fayez Al-Tarawneh immediately declared that the topic was not up for discussion at this particular time and that there could be no talk of confederation before the creation of an independent Palestinian state was complete.
Several parliament members also issued statements expressing "dismay and surprise at Arafat's proposal", describing it as an attempt by the Palestinian leader to add to Jordan's problems at a time when the country is struggling to overcome its grief at the death of King Hussein.
George Hadad, a columnist at the daily Dastour newspaper, said that not long ago the late King Hussein had publicly asked Arafat to refrain from raising this issue until the occupied Palestinian territories had been liberated. Hadad said that Arafat's proposal, made only four days after Hussein's death, would only help Israel's declared intention of establishing Jordan as an alternative homeland for the Palestinians.
With the expiry date of the Oslo Agreement signed between Israel and the Palestinians approaching on 4 May without any hope of a breakthrough in the peace process, Jordanian officials and opposition groups fear that the proposed confederation may be meant as an alternative to Arafat's threat to unilaterally declare an independent state, thus giving Israel the justification to transfer hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to Jordan. If this were to come about, it would seriously aggravate Jordan's economic problems. The country is already suffering from a lack of economic resources and sky-rocketing unemployment.
Abdul-Majid Zuneibat, supreme guide of Jordan's main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, told Al-Ahram Weekly that Arafat's proposal at this particular juncture was "an invitation to Judaise Jordan and an attempt to avoid declaring an independent Palestinian state by solving his problems at Jordan's expense. We vehemently reject this call."
Like other Jordanian commentators, Zuneibat said that Jordanians and Palestinians have been united by force of circumstances over the past decade, "but any talk of a confederation should be left until after the establishment of a Palestinian state. That way, the union would take place voluntarily between two independent nations."
