Jordanian legislators up in arms

A new scientific centre on the Israeli border with Jordan provoked widespread opposition in Jordan and heated arguments in parliament, writes Sana Abdallah in Amman

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A Jordanian officer stands backdropped by the two countries' flags.

Jordan officially participated in the launching of a controversial "educational" centre on the Jordanian-Israeli border on 9 March, drawing the wrath of the country's predominantly anti- Israeli population and opposition groups. The angry reaction to the launch, in which three government ministers laid the cornerstone of the so-called "Bridging the Rift" scientific centre in Wadi Araba, climaxed on 14 March during a heated session in the Lower House of Parliament.

Twenty legislators from the 110-seat parliament submitted a memorandum requesting a special session to withdraw confidence from the ministers of planning, education and higher education for their participation in the initiative. The signatories, including the 16 members of the Islamic Action Front -- the political arm of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood Movement -- blasted the government for supporting the project.

The memo stated that the ministers should be accountable for taking part in the inauguration of the "joint centre with the Zionist enemy... headed by the terrorist [Benjamin] Netanyahu, who considers Jordan as part of Israeli territory". It denounced the government for launching the joint project "at a time when this enemy threatens Jordan and its sovereignty, is massacring our people in Palestine... and expelling those in Palestine so that Jordan becomes an alternative homeland".

During the session, which was not on the regular agenda, several legislators expressed their anger, describing 9 March as "a black day in Jordanian history [which] isolated the government from the people". They accused the government of spilling the "blood of our Palestinian brethren" and ignoring the feelings of the Jordanian people. Some went as far as to accuse the government of treason.

The government was also charged with concealing facts from the public by keeping silent about the centre until the inauguration ceremony. Independent Parliamentarian Abdul- Rahim Malhas, an outspoken former health minister, said "words like transparency, cooperation, dialogue, political development and democracy have become empty after this degrading inauguration, just like the meaning of peace." This was a clear reference to Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez's claim that his government, since its formation in October, was focussing on greater political participation in decision-making and greater transparency.

However, analysts said that while the government promised to heal rifts with the opposition through dialogue -- an opposition largely marginalised for almost four years -- it made clear from the outset that its foreign policy would remain the same, including its commitment to the 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

The launching of the $600 million centre, which has the support of Jordanian, Israeli and American businesspeople, in addition to the Cornell and Stanford universities, was a harsh reminder that it was business as usual with Israel, despite the continued Israeli onslaught on Palestinians and their lands.

Notwithstanding Jordan's refusal to dispatch an ambassador to Tel Aviv since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000, the move in Wadi Araba was a strong indication that the government was not heeding growing demands to link the normalisation of relations with Israel to the latter's behaviour in the Palestinian territories, if not to revoke the peace treaty altogether.

Jordan has consistently maintained that severing ties with Israel would not be conducive to the comatose peace process, or to "extending support to our Palestinian brethren". Officials said Jordan intended to keep channels open with Israel by maintaining humanitarian aid to Palestinians across the border and continuing its political support of the Palestinian position by expressing it directly to the Israelis.

Planning Minister Bassem Awadallah used this same argument, telling parliament that his government "uses every opportunity to defend Palestinian national rights". The minister, who described the words of the angry legislators as "too stiff", said he and the other participating ministers in Wadi Araba "stressed to the Israeli side our rejection of the separation barrier, which not only harms Palestinian rights and the peace process, but also Jordanian national rights".

Awadallah further defended the official position by adding that Jordanian participation in the joint project was "confirmation to the world that we are peace advocates who seek security and stability for our region". He justified the centre by insisting that there was no harm cooperating with two prestigious universities for a scientific centre dedicated exclusively to research and argued against "politicising the issue".

Education Minister Khaled Toukan urged angry legislators to "use better judgement" when considering the issue of the project, prompting an uproar and a walk-out by the opposition parliamentarians.

Legislators said they would insist on a no-confidence vote on the three ministers in order to continue pressure on the government against normalising relations with Israel. However, it is unlikely that this pressure will reap results in a country that has been so rewarded by the US since concluding its peace deal with Israel in 1994, incidentally also signed in Wadi Araba.