Jordan opposition parties, trade unions want peace pact cancelled

Oct 26, 2009, 13:12 GMT

Amman - A coalition of Jordanian opposition parties and trade unions Monday marking the 15th anniversary of the Jordan- Israel peace treaty, demanded its 'cancellation,' saying it only benefited the occupation machinations of the Jewish state.

'The past 15 years have undoubtedly proved that the only beneficiary from this treaty was the Zionist enemy, which managed to achieve some breakthroughs and utilize it to penetrate into other Arab countries,' the Higher Executive Committee for Protection of the Homeland and Confronting Normalization with Israel said.

The Islamic-led panel said that the peace treaty failed to work because 'the land is still under occupation and the Zionist threats to Jordan are continuing, the latest of which was an allegation that Jordan represented the alternative homeland for the Palestinians.'

It referred to a proposal presented earlier this year to the Knesset by an extremist Israeli lawmaker suggesting the enactment of a law that considers Jordan an alternative homeland for the Palestinians.

The proposal and the recurrent breaking into Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli troops over the past four weeks appeared to have a tangibly negative impact on ties between the two countries.

Israel captured East Jerusalem and the rest of West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war.

Under the provisions of the peace treaty which the two countries signed at Wadi Araba on October 26, 1994, Israel acknowledged Jordan's right to look after all Islamic and Christian holy places in East Jerusalem.

The anti-Israel alliance hailed what it called the Jordanian people's 'rejection' of the peace treaty with Israel and pledged to keep up is backing for 'resistance against Zionist occupation.'

It described Israel as 'a racial and expansionist entity that represents a permanent source of threat to the entire region.'