Amman - Members of Jordan's parliamentary Foreign Affairs
Committee have blasted what they called the 'failure' of the
country's foreign policy to improve ties with Syria and to adopt an
even-handed policy towards the feuding Palestinian factions of Hamas
and Fatah, the daily Alarab Alyawm reported Tuesday.
The lawmakers, who aired their viewpoints during a meeting with
Foreign Minister Salah Bashir on Monday, also criticised Jordan's
failure to attend the Arab summit conference which was held in
Damascus at the end of March, the paper said.
'Our absence from the summit was a grave mistake,' member of the
lower house Wasfi Rawashdeh was quoted as saying.
Jordan joined Saudi Arabia and Egypt in attending the summit at
ambassadorial level in a bid to pressure Syria into playing a
constructive role in efforts aimed at finding a solution to the then
raging Lebanese political crisis.
The MPs charged that certain regional players including Israel and
the US were trying to 'marginalize' Jordan's foreign policy and
prevent Jordan from playing an effective role in regional politics.
'Jordan is urged to adopt a policy of openness towards Damascus'
in view of the common economic interests shared by the two countries,
Alarab Alyawm quoted legislators as telling the foreign minister.
They also urged Jordan to 'broker a reconciliation between Fatah
and Hamas and not to leave this role to Qatar' which successfully
mediated a dialogue among the feuding Lebanese groupings last week.
The Jordanian government so far sided with Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas, in the standoff with Hamas that led to the control of
the Gaza Strip in June last year.
'We have a crisis in our ties with the axis of the Arab moderate
states and a crisis in our ties with the Palestinian brethren and
hence we should conduct a comprehensive review of our foreign
policy,' deputy Adnan Sawaeer was quoted as saying.
Deputies also criticized Jordan's support of the Lebanese that
deprived it of a role in forging a national reconciliation in
Lebanon.
They also criticized the relationship between Jordan and the US
and described US President George W Bush's recent speech at the
Israeli Knesset as 'rude and Zionist' for his failure to show due
respect to Palestinian rights.
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