During the king’s speech to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Karamah battle, he stated obliquely that “We know that every stage has its challenges and dangers, and we should always be ready to face these challenges, and to face any danger that may threaten our security and our stability. This is not solely the responsibility of the armed forces and the security apparatus, but the responsibility of every citizen of this country, each according to their position, role and responsibilities. There are always those, domestic and foreign, who do not wish well for this nation. It is our responsibility to be always at the highest state of vigilance, sense of responsibility and preparedness to confront any danger or attempt to tamper with the security or stability of this country”.
This statement could simply refer to terrorism, or could refer to the deeper challenges related to the economic and social state of the country. Many people feel that the economic situation is being used as a leverage to force Jordan into submission vis a vis solving the issue of Palestine on it’s soil. This is not an unreasonable assumption, as our Arab brethren can easily and painlessly relieve the country of its current predicament. The fact that they are not willing to do so is quite puzzling, and can not be explained except in this context.
Now, if this is the case, I believe that the people need to know. If it is not the case, they need to know as well. There are no convincing answers, and so we are faced with either explaining all of this in terms of political pressure or of embezzlement. If we are being asked to sacrifice for a cause, then we should know what the cause is.
Now, if we are being asked to sacrifice in order to withstand Israeli and American pressure to absorb more Palestinian refugees, with all of the social, political and economic ramifications that this will entail on Palestine and on Jordan, the economic crunch that we are facing will become understandable, bearable and even manageable. The Karamah battle showed that we have the sense of sacrifice and ability to persevere and to prevail. Facing this challenge forthrightly and honestly will bring out our sense of duty and our determination, and, I believe, will be good for the character of our society. Nahid Hattar is even using the anniversary of the Karamah battle to call for preparation for war. I don’t think that this is in the cards, but maybe we need a grand challenge to bring out the best in us.
24 Comments:
NO WAY! Is this really what it's all about?? Like Jordan taking in Palestinians Israel wants out?
War 3anjad?
My oh my.
It is possible, but I don't think so. Coz you know for two years after the Iraq war we got free oil that we consumers paid for, plus 1.5 billion from the Us plus financial aid from saudi arabia..So...It is hard to believe that they won't help us.If you remember saddams threat to cut the oil if the government raised the fuel prices? Do you remember the kuwaiti oil scandal? Like they say it is "قربه مخزوقة ".
As for war kinzi, Don't worry, no war in the near future;we are last in the que.
Addtionally, I think that the solution of the palastenian issue will come later on based on a more serious issue which is water. Remember the dead sea-red sea canal? It is supposed to solve the water shortage problem in jordan, but israel, jordan, and palastine have to be involoved, and with the absense of a real palastenian authority there will bo no agreement, thus it is expected that jordan will be under more pressure to accept whatever israel and the west demands..Don't you think?
Kinzi: Of course Israel wishes that they can get rid of the Palestinian population. It is no secret that they would like Jordan to become Palestine. Their leaders have said so many times.
Mohanned: I would like a clear explanation of why foreign aid has dropped. I seriously doubt that corruption is the reason. I mean, why would our leadership be held to a different standard than all other Arab leaderships?
I don't think the water issue will work fast enough. Time is not on Israel's side.
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My point is that we had our chance and we(they) blew it, call it mismanagement, call it corruption, call it double standards; at the end it doesn't really matter coz the outcome is, was ,and will be the same. Look for example at the budget, they lifted almost all the subsidies but the deficit rose to almost a billion dollars!
Again, I am not ignoring the aspects that you shed some light on, but you can't ask the people to fight in their everyday life while the government and others at the top are spending as if we are in brunai!
They privatized almost every resource in the country and yet the government is growing! Instead of reducing the number of people on the government payroll, it grew bigger and bigger; look at the commities whose budget goes well over one billion dollars! You can't fix a system by closing a hole and then openning a bigger one! The issue has tentacles like a mutated octopus :)
Mohanned: I agree that there is a lot of mismanagement and possibly a lot of corruption. I simply don't believe that this is why aid has dropped. In any case, we deserve answers.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? In other words, who will protect us against the protectors?. The call you refer to strikes me as asking people to be vigilant against themselves. One can't test the patience of people and then ask them to be patient. You can't rob peopel and then ask them to look out for burglars. You can't push people to the edge and then tell them how dangerous it is. Enough with pretending that we have anything to do with deciding our fate. We are not "ashab Qarar" and we better believe it.
Nahid wants to prepare for war, and to stop the "alternative home" and to keep the oil and fodder subsidies, and to support Hizbollah and Syria, and to stop foreign investments in Jordan: All this in one package! I have long stopped reading his articles unless I want to laughs.
Why you always attack Nahid Hattar ?Batir,are you jealous of him? or what,In my opinion ,he is one of the finest journalist in Jordan because he write from his mind as will as his heart,and he paid dearly when the government sent to jail because he advocated the idea of boycotting United State and Israeli goods.
لماذا الصحفين من أمثالك ؟...همهم الوحيد والاخير مسح جوخ وتطبيل وتزمير لنضام أكل عليه الزمن ونتهت مذة من 60 سنه ليش يا بتير يا صحفي "الحريه" "وحقوق الانسان"؟؟
I am not jealous from Nahid or anyone else but I get really frustrated with writers trying to gain popularity throyugh deceiving their readers. Nahid is a guy who wrote 3 years ago that Zarqawi is a genious, and only last year he was advocating Khaled Mashal.
I support the Jordanian regime because I am convinced it is the best option for managing the country and I will continue to do so whether you like it or not.
First of all, I doubt that Nahed Hattar has prised Al Zarqawi or called him as a "genius", and for the sake of your argument,let us say Nahed wrote that about Zarqaui,does that constitute support or an endorsement to Zarqawi and his likes??
I read all of Nahed articles in his Blog and what he writes in Al Akbar news paper .
certainly ,Naheed knows real will that Zarqawi is not only fanatics but a lunatic that the regime has created in their notorious prisons.
BTW Batir ,I like to see your sources of information and assertion of what Nahed had wrote on Zarqawi, inquiring minds want to know.
khalaf,
logical, they need to pressure Jordan to the max (like now with the economy truma) to accept palestinian solution on Jordan's soil matched with heavy financial support, holding Jordan's development rendered for additional decades and ending the palestinain cause the way it is from the international stage.
whatever has to be, has to come fast.. the tension is explosive.
Ahmad,,,let me assure you,Palestanian cause and rights are not going away anytime soon, so as long as there is no justice, even if the palestanian are the weak party in this conflict!
Did the foreign aid drop this year? I thought it was increased, at least the US aid.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL14129345
بالنسبة لناهض حتر هذا تعليق سابق من قبلي على مقالة له في الاخبار:
http://jordanianissues.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post_20.html
من جهة ثانية فحتى ناهض ما بيدعي بطولات في المرة الوحيد التي اعتقل فيها في المخابرات فما انتهت اليه الامور معروف. ولكن الاهم بالنسبة لي وللجميع سواء كان هو نقاش وتحري مواقفه السياسية على ما هي عليه بدون التعرض لشخصه اوما شابه، هو اوغيره. ارجو ان اكون قد وفقت في توضيح وجهة نظري في المقال اعلاه.
بالنسبة لوضع الاردن، اتفق مع خلف في التساؤولات التي وضعها، واواكد ان المساعدات الخارجية للآردن قد زادت في الفترة السابقة ولم تقل، سواء من امريكا مباشرة، اومن النفط المدعوم من العراق -18 دولار عن السعر العالمي، او من الدول المجاورة، لكن كما يقول المثل السرقة ما بتغني والصدقة ما بتفقر، يعني بالمختصر المساعدات الخارجية ما بتبني اقتصاد منتج ومتطور, فقط بتسمح للنظام\الحكم\ القصر بتوسيع قاعدته الإجتماعية سواء برشوة النخب العشائرية والعسكرية والمدنية مباشرة، اوبتوسيع التوظيف في قطاع الدولة - ومن هنا توسع الحكومة رغم تراجع مداخيلها الورقية المزعوم - هذا التوسيع في القاعدة والذي يصيب قطاع الحكومي والخدماتي بشكل اساسي هدفه استمرار النظام السياسي في الاردن في تقديم خدماته السياسية واللوجستية للسياسة والحرب الامريكية في المنطقة. لخدمة استقرارها تحت الهيمنة الامريكية.
هكذا يرى الحكم الاردني مصالحه في هذه الحقبة. له مخاوفه من اسرائيل طبعا، فقد خسر الحكم جزء هام من "مملكته" ومشروعيته وكاد ان يفقد السلطة بعد حرب ال1967 وانيهار الجيش الاردني . والذي بات معظم اهم كوادره في حل من اوامر قياداتهم، هذه الذي هئ لهم اخذ زمام المبادرة في مكانهم الطبيعي جنبا الى جنب المقاومة الفلسطينية وفصائلها آنئذ ووجهوا للعدو صفعة مؤلمة في يوم الكرامة، وإن الى حين.
او لو انقاش اكثر في هذا الموضوع ، لكن للحديث بقية
وشكرا
khader,
remind me when was the army almost crushed?
As numbers say, Israeli losses on Jordanian front were always the higher!
al urdoni al hurr,
any change in the current situation will cause a change on stage. New side conflicts, new allies. take the gulf wars 1,2 and 3 and chart differences on the palestinian national cause and the arab background.
khalaf,
It is still early but I wanted to share this: A proposal in the US congress to increase aid to jordan to 900 million a year.
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093190221
Salam Khalaf,
do you have any links on how much the external aid has decreased to Jordan? I thought it was still the same.
My understanding is that Jordan's recent economic problem is due to weak dollar and high oil prices.
no?
I don't know why this discussion has somehow been focused on foreign aid to Jordan when it started with the king's speech on Al Karamah day.
I think people here have read too much into the king's words.
Maybe because foreign aid is the blood?No actually it is the oxygen the the blood delivers!Without it, the economy will go into what is called great depression, which will result social instability, especially if you know that the number of people on the government payroll is very big, right?
Mohanned,
I am very sorry to have to say this: Please consider focusing on your studies and try to do some meaningful work like passing your exams and trying to get some papers or something. Local politics is in need of your future wisdom not your current babble
and this advice is out of "care for" or just "shut up"?
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