Jordanian King: The Israelis seriously talk about changing Arafat
Jordan-Palestine, Politics, 12/14/2001

The Jordanian King Abdullah II has warned against the grave conditions in the West Bank and Gaza. In his first statement to the press since the incidents of September 11th in the US to the London based al-Sharq al-Awsat daily issued on Thursday the Jordanian Monarch added that he is very concerned over the talks of replacing Yasser Arafat and warned against statements made by Palestinian opposition forces, noting that such statements might lead to a civil war.

He also expressed his concern over the future of the Palestinian question due to the fact that the Israelis have started to talk seriously about an alternative for Yasser Arafat and stressed that Jordan will not militarily interfere in the West Bank and Gaza.

He described the current situations for the time being as the most difficult and most dangerous for Arafat. The King commented " Actually I am very concerned that such developments will push matters towards a civil war in the West Bank and Gaza," adding " Our position is that ( Abu Ammar) Arafat represents the Palestinian people. President Arafat is my brother and I will stand by him, But I will not interfere in the internal Palestinian affairs."

He continued " We can not by any means permit more ( Palestinian) refugees to come to Jordan. We will not keep the border crossings open and for that gave my orders to close the bridges and crossing with the West Bank. Israel has to know that it can not solve her problem by means of force and there is no option but to negotiate in order to reach peace ."

Replying to a question on why Jordan does not send its forces to the West Bank and Gaza as it does in many parts of the world like Sera Leone, Kosovo and Afghanistan, the Jordanian Monarch said that this idea was debated at the recent Amman's summit conference and was refused. "We will not dispatch our forces to the occupied ( Palestinian) territories to be a target for any side," King Abdullah said..

As for the participation of the Jordanian forces in the UN peace keeping forces in several areas of tension and conflict in the world, the Jordanian King said that such intervention has a civilized and international participation.

As for the war against terrorism, the Jordanian King said that the war of Afghanistan is not a war against terrorism, rather a war against extremists.

He explained: " as for our experience with terrorism, almost every country has suffered from it and is fighting it. And Jordan is now very experienced and fought it. Jordan has a good experience in dealing with violence to preserve security and this made the Jordanian citizen secure and safe in his house and city." Simultaneously, the Jordanian King expressed his regret that there is an extension for al-Qaida organization in Jordan that tried to destabilize security and, adding that the Jordanian courts are still considering the question of this organization.

Previous Stories:
  Jordan denies sending forces to separate between the Palestinians, Israelis   (12/10/2001)
  American proposal to deploy Jordanian forces in the West Bank   (12/8/2001)
  Jordan invites Arab follow up committee for meeting over Palestinian conditions   (12/5/2001)

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