Jordan parliamentarians want reply to Israeli threats and to bar Shalom Shalom

Some 41 members of the Jordanian parliament signed a memorandum asking the government not to receive the Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom ,who will be visiting Jordan later this month, and to expel the Israeli ambassador from Amman, on the ground of statements made by officials in the ruling Likud party threatening to evacuate the Palestinians to Jordan.

The Jordanian parliamentarians say that these statements are a violation to the peace agreement signed between the two sides in 1994. The Jordanian parliament, composed of 110 members, said that the memorandum calls on the government to take measures "to deal with the grave statements made by officials in the Israeli Likud party on the evacuation of the Palestinians to Jordan."

The parliamentarians, signatories to the memorandum said that the government has to take decisive measures, including not receiving Shalom, and to expel the Israeli ambassador form Amman and "halting all dealings and contacts with Israel."

Officials in the Likud party led by the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon recently threatened to resume the "transfer" policy, which means the expulsion of Palestinians to Jordan, and revive the extremist rightist project in Israel which considers Jordan as "an alternative homeland" for the Palestinians.