meeting with Meshal but we haven’t
received all the information on what they have agreed upon.”
If the final outcome of Damascus meeting aims to lift blockade
on the Palestinian people, push the peace process forward,
establish a national unity government and stop the Palestinian-Palestinian
fighting, then it is a something positive and Jordan supports
all these efforts,” Judeh told reporters during his
weekly press briefing at the Prime Ministry.
He brushed aside the idea that there was
a Jordanian initiative rejected by the Palestinians. “
It has never been racing initiatives.” “ Jordan’s
only initiative is to back efforts aimed to reinvigorate
the peace process and stop fighting between the Palestinian
and this does not clash with any other initiative,”
Judeh said.
Answering a question on whether Jordan
is still ready to host a meeting between President Abbas
and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Judeh said “the
invitation at that time was not for President Abbas alone.
He was invited to come accompanying Haniyeh with him if
the latter wanted that.” It was an attempt to support
national reconciliation efforts and stop blood shedding
following painful repercussions at that time, he added.
Asked about Younes Rujub, who was accused
in a statement, attributed to Hamas, that he was issuing
statements in the name of Fateh from Jordan, Judeh said
Rujub was not arrested nor was he charged of anything. He
was only summoned and asked to stop issuing such statements.
In reply to a question on whether the
issue of Iraqis residing in Jordan was a topic of question
during the parliament deputies’ debate on the state
budget plan over the past three days, Judeh said it was
not about the Iraqis only. The deputies discussed the presence
of all non-Jordanians in Jordan. Such a group should be
taken into account when discussing future planning because
this is related to consuming natural resources, he said.
“Jordan will remain a safe haven
for all despite the existence of this huge number of Iraqis
and non-Iraqis in a country with this scarcity of natural
resources,” he said.
The Iraqis do not present a problem in
the full sense of the word because Jordan realizes the difficult
situation in Iraq and his door has always been open for
the Iraqis, Judeh said noting that it is difficult to give
an accurate figure of the number of Iraqis residing in Jordan.
There are about 400- 450 thousand of them. Some of them
can be termed as refugees, others are investors and some
are just residents, he added in reply to a question. We
can not put them all in one category particularly when talking
about political asylum.
According to reports by UN High Commission
for Refugees, there are less than 20,000 Iraqis who asked
for political asylum in Jordan or to leave Jordan as such
to any other country. Most Iraqis in Jordan do not see themselves
as refugees, Judeh said.
On Iraq’s Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi
to Jordan, Judeh said it is part of King Abdullah’s
keen interest to keep in touch with all Iraqis of different
political ideologies and religious sects. This is part of
Jordan’s endeavors to support effort aimed to realize
national accord and prevent sectarian conflict in the country,
he added.
On the issue of Jordanian prisoners
in Israel, Judeh said “we may see some progress regarding
this issue soon. It is being followed up intensively and
on daily bases by the concerned departments.”
