Jordan's government wishes new Palestinian cabinet "success"

Mar 17, 2007, 20:27 GMT

Amman - The Jordanian government on Saturday wished the new Palestinian cabinet 'success' and urged it to 'shoulder its responsibilities' in such a manner that leads to the lifting of the siege imposed on the Palestinian people.

'The Jordanian government wishes the new Palestinian cabinet success in performing its duties,' the government's official spokesman Nasser Judeh said in the first official response to the declaration earlier in the day of the Palestinian national unity government's policy statement.

'The new Palestinian cabinet's acquisition of the Legislative Council's confidence represents an important step in the march of the Palestinian people and their National Authority, particularly in the current critical circumstances, where collaboration of efforts is needed to regain their legitimate rights in the run-up for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,' Judeh added.

He expressed Jordan's hope in seeing the new Palestinian government 'shoulder its responsibilities towards the Palestinian people and their supreme interest, particularly the lifting of the siege being imposed on them.'

The Jordanian official alluded to the conditions set forth by the Middle East Quartet for lifting the economic siege that was imposed on the Palestinian territories a year ago by the United States, the European Union and other world donors following Hamas' victory in the January 2006 elections, Amman-based diplomats said.

The Quartet, which comprises the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, made the resumption of financial aid to the Palestinian areas conditional on Hamas' recognition of Israel and renouncing violence.

Jordan's King Abdullah II, who leads a new round of diplomacy to ensure a resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, called last week on the Palestinians to arrive at a clear stance before the arrival of the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the region on March 25.

Rice is due to take part in a Quartet meeting in Cairo ahead of the Arab summit conference scheduled for March 28 in Riyadh.

King Abdullah visited Washington earlier this month and delivered a speech before the two houses of the US Congress, urging the administration of President George W Bush to pioneer a 'historic role' in bringing the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

Earlier in the day, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party, urged the Amman government to 'change its policy towards' the new Hamas-led Palestinian cabinet.

'The Jordanian government should deal in a fair manner with all components of the Palestinian people and take the initiative to ensure a lifting of the blockade imposed on them,' the IAF Secretary General Zaki Bani Ershaid said in a statement.

The Jordanian government boycotted the Hamas-led cabinet since the hard-line group emerged victorious in the January 2006 elections.

Since then, the Amman government confined its communication with the Palestinian Authority to President Mahmoud Abbas.