Jordan ready to play a role between Syria and Israel

The speaker of the Jordanian Parliament, Abdul Hadi al-Majali, has announced Jordan's readiness to carry out a positive role between Syria and Israel.

In an interview he gave to the Lebanese paper al-Mustaqbil, published on Tuesday, the Jordanian parliament speaker added, "We are ready and prepared to convey the Syrian viewpoints and ideas to Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak through highest Jordanian levels, if the Syrian leadership would like us to do so.

Al-Majali said the "Palestinian track is the main issue," adding that, "Without sorting out the Palestinian cause, peace will not be attainable." He said that if Syria will sign an agreement before the Palestinians this will be for the good of the Palestinians.

He expressed his conviction that the coming phase will be difficult and that getting into the battle of peace is not an easy one "because we will meet main and fundamental causes including the refugees, Jerusalem; the settlements, the borders. And we assure the need of not leaving the Palestinians alone in the battle."

Al-Majali said the Syrians have "a right which is as clear as the sun in restoring back their territories until June 41 1967 border lines and in other demands, namely the mechanism of eliminating the mistrust."

Concerning normalization with Israel, the Jordanian parliament speaker said his country is linked with a treaty with Israel. He added that the process of normalization has the mechanisms of both "acceptance and refusal" by the people, because the official stand and the stand taken by the people are quite different, adding the state of Jordan has no right to encourage normalization nor to impose it.