Report: On the future of Syrian-Jordanian relations
Jordan-Syria, Politics, 3/11/1999

The Jordanian daily al-Arab al-Youm quoted well-informed political sources in Amman as expecting further good atmospheres between Syria and Jordan within the coming days, especially following the participation of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in the funeral of the late King Hussein and the visit of condolences made by his son, Bashar, to Amman.

The paper added that the Jordan's King Abdullah has responded to what President Hafez al-Assad proposed of viewpoints they exchanged on the sidelines of King Hussein's funeral in a meeting which lasted for 20 minutes.

The paper added the recently Syrian diplomacy had gotten signals encouraging Damascus to develop its relations with Jordan. The first of these signals is that the new Jordanian government is free from any member of the Jordanian negotiation team with Israel, that the new Jordanian premier had never met with any Israeli official and never visited Israel and that the visit of condolences made by Netanyahu to Amman recently was not made at the wish of the Jordanian side, rather at the insistence of Netanyahu.

The paper said other indications of warmth in the relations between the two states were that King Abdullah was not pleased over the results of his meeting with Netanyahu especially, and that according to certain reports, the king reviewed the history of the Jordanian-Israeli relations from his own perspective.

The paper added that another indication was that the King addressed the new Cabinet on the need to sustain the amity shown by the Arabs following the death of King Hussein, a matter which eventually necessitates less warm Jordanian relations with Israel.

Another indication is in choosing Abdul Karim al-Kabareiti as the chairman of the Jordanian royal court, who is known for his stances against vast openness and normalization and enthusiasm towards Israel, while the next indication was that the current Jordanian policy is not in contradiction with the US policy towards the government of Netanyahu before the general Israeli elections in May as the surplus aid committee at the US Congress decided to freeze US $1.2 billion that had been decided to be given to Israel according to the Wye River agreement.

The last of these indications which gives signals, the paper said, was reports issued by the Israeli media quoting one of Netanyahu's aides as saying that King Abdullah told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that he has to deal with new Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul Raouf al-Rawabdeh, who is in charge of the file between the two countries, a matter which means recession in the level of relations.

The paper continued that according to its own sources Damascus expressed readiness for positive response to the government of al-Rawabdeh, noting that Damascus has no comments on the new Jordanian Premier who has relatives in the Syrian province of Hauran and who was always careful to visit them frequently.

Previous Stories:
  Jordanian king praises relations with Syria   (3/9/1999)
  Bashar al-Assad in Amman to offer condolences to King Abdullah on the death of King Hussein   (2/26/1999)
  Bashar al-Assad in Amman today   (2/25/1999)

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