Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour tried last Tuesday, for the umpteenth time, to assure Parliament that no sinister negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis are going on behind Jordan’s back, and that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has committed himself and his negotiating team to keeping Jordan abreast of the talks every step of the way.
There are some, however, including several people’s representatives, who still have doubts and suspicions on the subject of how much Jordan knows about the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and to what extent Jordan’s interests are being taken into consideration.
Suspicious circles contend that the government is not doing enough to combat a settlement of Palestinian refugees in Jordan and is lax about protecting the national Jordanian identity, especially in the wake of calls to grant children of Jordanian women married to foreigners basic civil rights.
In other words, such people have no trust in official assurances.
The prime minister could not have been more unequivocal, also, when he told the deputies, recently, that no Jordanian soldier will ever be deployed west of the River Jordan and not a single foreign soldier will be deployed east of the river.
What seems to haunt some Jordanian is the 1993 Oslo Accords, reached by Palestinians and Israelis engaged in secret peace talks.
With Oslo in mind, some people are wary that the scenario might be repeated and catch Jordan off guard again.
Those harbouring suspicions must however know that Jordan is no novice when it comes to protecting its interests.
The leadership is fully aware and will make sure that no peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians would be struck at Jordan’s expense.
Parliamentarians should therefore shed their suspicions and fears and give the government full support, confident that Jordan’s interests on all fronts will be safeguarded.
