Face the Issue
Since first visiting Jordan 36 years ago (has it really been that long!!) the issue of Jordanian-Palestinian relations has been around. Sometimes it lies just beneath the surface, rearing its head only to disappear and reemerge at a later date. But there is no point in pretending the issue doesn't exist. It is part of the Jordanian social fabric, history, or whatever one wants to call it.
Adnan Abu Odeh, a man well respected by many in Jordan and the international community, has brought this issue to the fore once again. Rather than filing legal charges against him, I think it is high time that all concerned address this issue openly, honestly, and rationally...........z
Adnan Abu Odeh, a man well respected by many in Jordan and the international community, has brought this issue to the fore once again. Rather than filing legal charges against him, I think it is high time that all concerned address this issue openly, honestly, and rationally...........z
posted by joladies at Friday, November 03, 2006
6 Comments:
Link to this story please
http://www.natashatynes.org/mental_mayhem/2006/11/abu_odeh_interv.html
Look at the above and also the editorial in Friday's issue of the Jordan Times. T
Now I have sen the press reports I strongly agree that legal process is not the way to deal with thgis matter. Abu Odeh is a very respected member of thePalestinian community, former Chief of the Royal Court, senior diplomat etc etc. The old fault line in Jordanian society which was so exposed in 1967-71 has mostly healed over the years and I am sure the King with his Palestinian wife is well aware of the danger of opening old wounds. Time for reconciliation not confrontation.
I have sent the following letter to theJo Times:
May I as a former British Ambassador to Jordan very strongly support your editorial last Friday on the Abu Odeh case. During my time in Amman-1993-97 I was very impressed by how much healing had taken place in East Bank-Palestinian relations since the dark days of the early 1970s. Most of my East Bank friends and contacts had Palestinian in laws from the highest in the land to the man in the street. Most Palestinians I knew recognised that Jordan was their home and were totally loyal to the state.
Of course tensions will exist and can be exploited by ill mreaning people. But to proceed legally against such a respected individual as Abu Odeh who has served the Kingdom with such distinction smacks of extreme folly. He has a point of view and in a free society should be able to state it without fear of legal retribution, Listen to him and deal with his concerns. To seek to drive him underground is not the recipe fpr continous harmony in the Hashemite Kingdom.
I write as an old friend of Jordan.
Let me know if it is published
Oh Mr Hinchcliffe, for I assume it is you, what you say is true, but will you be heeded !? I do hope so. I too am an old friend of Jordan's and wish the country nothing but good.
Hello Huttonian,
Your remarks were published this morning in the Jordan Times 6/11. Very well said.........z
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