Lawmakers slam Jordan's foreign policy towards Syria, Palestinians

May 27, 2008, 8:34 GMT

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.