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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (55084)	10/28/2002 12:36:46 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 281500

Interesting feature on Jordanian politics from Ha'aretz, says anti-Palestinian factions are uppermost in Jordan, who greatly fears an inrush of Palestinian refugees. Excerpt: In recent weeks a day doesn't go by without the Jordanians making statements about their fear the Israelis will conduct a "transfer operation." American diplomats say they are repeatedly asked about it. Those working most actively against a wave of Palestinian emigration to Jordan are the Jordanian nationalist groups, meaning people whose origins are in East Jordan (and who can fairly be described as anti-Palestinian). Their spokesman is the Christian journalist Fahed Al-Funk, who has a well-known column in the popular Al Ra'I newspaper, in which he constantly lambasts any plan for cooperation or confederation between Jordan and the Palestinians. These groups are apparently finding attentive ears in the royal palace. In the past, King Hussein was deeply involved in West Bank and Jerusalem affairs, even after he lost to them in the 1967 war. His son, Abdullah II, is not so involved. He could barely agree to send a contractor to do repair work on the southern wall of the Temple Mount after the Israelis and Palestinians were unable to decide who would do the job. It's possible the close relations Abdullah has developed with Iraq have something to do with this. A large part of Jordanian agricultural and industrial exports go to Iraq. The Jordanians get money and - more important - oil from Iraq, practically for free. There are hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees in Jordan, and they are a relatively quiet minority. The Jordanian connection with Iraq has blossomed somewhat at the price of Jordan's relations with the Palestinians and the West Bank. Since the Israeli authorities put a closure on the Palestinian territories and brought hundreds of thousands of foreign workers to Israel to replace Palestinian workers, there's been growing Palestinian pressure on the Jordanians. The equation is obvious. The more Israel builds fences and checkpoints preventing the Palestinians from moving westward, the more Palestinians have to turn eastward. Thus, a person from Nablus who can't travel overseas through Ben-Gurion Airport has no other way to go but through Amman. The growing Palestinian dependence on Jordan angers the anti-Palestinian groups in Amman. The number of Palestinians with Jordanian citizenship is estimated to be around 60 percent of the population, and the families of the original Jordanians feel threatened. They know the day is not far off when they'll have to finally resolve the issue of relations between Jordan and the Palestinian entity. Now, for example, the Palestinian national movement, the PLO, claims to represent all Palestinians, which undermines the legitimacy of a Jordanian political entity in an area mostly populated by Palestinians. That day could come sooner than many think because war in Iraq could lead to sweeping political initiatives in the area and decisions about the identity of Jordan and the future Palestinian state. The last thing they need now is a new wave of Palestinian immigration to the East Bank and Amman. haaretzdaily.com