Qatari foreign minister talks with Tarawneh over al-Jazira office issue
Jordan, Politics, 11/6/1998

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jaber al-Thani on Thursday spoke on the telephone with Jordanian Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh following the decision adopted by the Jordanian government to shut down the office of al-Jazira TV network owned by the government of Qatar and abrogate the accreditation of its correspondent in Amman.

Qatar's official news agency said that Sheikh Hamad and Tarawneh reviewed "the good relations between Qatar and Jordan." They stressed "the importance of strengthening and consolidating these relations in all areas."

On Tuesday al-Jazira TV broadcast within its "Opposite Direction" program a segment including strong criticism of Jordan and a description of its people as a "group of Bedouins who live in a devastated desert."

Al-Jazira television said in the session that Jordan is a fabricated entity created by Zionism to conspire against the Arab nation after World War I to be a new homeland for the Palestinians and there is a strategic and old relation between the Hashimites and Zionism. It continued that, "The kingdom does not constitute a state nor a political entity because it still the southern part of Syria."

It added that the Israeli-Jordanian peace agreement failed in "demarcating the Jordanian borders."

Jordanian Information Minister Nasser Joudeh said that his country wants "an apology over insulting us." He viewed the decision to shut down al-Jazira's office as a "national issue rather than a matter relating to democracy or a violation of the press law."

Previous Stories:
  Jordanian government halts accreditation of Qatari satellite station   (11/5/1998)
  Jordanian authorities deny preventing chairman of Hamas Mishal from travel   (11/4/1998)
  Jordan warns Hamas against launching attacks, statements from its territories   (11/3/1998)

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