Jordan has options open as it addresses challenges — PM

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said on Wednesday that Israeli provocations in Jerusalem and the West Bank will affect Jordanian-Israeli relations, reasserting that Jordan has numerous diplomatic and legal tools at hand to address the aggression.

Ensour made his remarks during an interview with Al Hayat newspaper in London, in which he renewed Jordan's condemnation of Israeli violations and said that Israel should be held accountable as an occupying force under international law, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Jordan, under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah, is following  the situation in Jerusalem and the recurrent violations of Al Aqsa Mosque closely, Ensour said.

He added that King Abdullah, as the custodian of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, is leading a diplomatic push against Israeli aggression and is intensifying contacts with the international community and powerful countries to stop Israel’s acts of aggression.

In regard to the Syrian crisis, the prime minister said it is predicted to last a long time and the only solution possible is political, adding that terrorist groups controlling wide swathes of Syrian territory are the responsibility of the international community as a whole as these groups are a threat to the entire world.

When asked about Russian interference in Syria, Ensour said that Syria’s future is only for the Syrians to decide, without external pressure or intervention. 

In response to a question about the government’s political and economic programmes, the premier outlined the current efforts to develop political life and encourage citizens to be an active part of it, referring to the political parties, municipalities and decentralisation laws, which have already been endorsed by Parliament.

He also highlighted the 2015 draft elections law, which he said was accepted by the nation and is now being examined by the Lower House’s Legal Committee. The draft’s most significant feature is cancellation of the one-person, one-vote system.

Ensour also said that the government has made a series of decisions and implemented measures to correct the country’s economic and financial situation in order to preserve the stability of the Jordanian dinar. He added that these decisions were made for the benefit of the nation, without consideration for the effect they may have on the government’s popularity and public approval ratings.

The premier noted that practical implementation of such measures will reveal shortcomings that may have not been clear beforehand, but that the government will fix them immediately in order to avoid the repercussions of unintended consequences. He asked that the people remain patient in awaiting the positive results of such measures.

The prime minister also said that Jordan has opened new export markets for agricultural products in Russia.

He noted that the Kingdom is currently studying ways to access other alternative markets like Africa and referred to the signing of free trade agreements with the US, Canada and Mexico, which will result in more opportunities for export to markets with a population of over a billion people.