Jordan Times
Monday, March 7, 2005
Jordan wants Israel to
release prisoners in month
By Omar Karmi
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli officials on Sunday said their country may release
Jordanian prisoners in its jails as Foreign Minister Hani Mulki concluded his
visit to the Jewish state.
“There is a willingness to solve this problem,” an Israeli foreign ministry
spokesman told The Jordan Times. “But it is a political decision that must go to
the Israeli president, who works independently, and it would be unrealistic to
set a timetable [for releasing the prisoners].”
Mulki, on the first trip to Israel by a senior Jordanian official since 2001,
said freeing the prisoners was “a top concern” in line with the 1994 peace
treaty.
“You have to understand they [the prisoners] are important to us and we want to
see them released next month or during this month,” Mulki told a joint news
conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Tel Aviv.
“I don't think this issue should be responsible for derailing our relations.”
Israel maintains that what it calls prisoners with “blood on their hands” will
not be released from its detention.
Jordan is seeking the release of around 25 prisoners, some of whom were
imprisoned before the peace treaty.
Israeli officials said the Jordanians may be freed, but that Tel Aviv would seek
to hand them over to the Kingdom's custody because they were convicted by the
Jewish state of involvement in attacks.
Israeli media reports on Sunday talked of a possible release of only four to
coincide with a planned upcoming visit by Shalom to Jordan later this month.
Mulki also held talks yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on
means to revive the peace process.
“I come here with a message that we have to continue on the road of peace,”
Mulki said after meeting Sharon.
“We have been saying for a long time that we want peace for future generations.
Today we say we want peace for us first.”
Mulki said Jordan would also step up its involvement in mediating the
Israeli-Palestinian dispute and host meetings in the coming weeks with Shalom
and Palestinian officials. His Majesty King Abdullah may also consider visiting
Israel, Mulki said.
Jordan has moved to renew its ties with Israel, restoring its ambassador to
Israel after the February 8 peace summit in Egypt.
On Saturday, Mulki and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas discussed
security issues.
Jordan has trained a 1,000-strong Palestinian security force, the Badr Brigades,
which the PA was reportedly keen to deploy in Palestinian cities and towns after
Israel's withdrawal to ensure law and order — one of Abbas' key presidential
campaign pledges.
Israel, however, remains reticent about allowing the Brigade entrance to the
West Bank, claiming it would be paramount to allowing a Palestinian right of
return.
But it is not the only party to remain sceptical.
Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades commander in Nablus, Nasser Jouma', voiced his
scepticism about the need for such a force.
“This suggestion brings mixed reactions,” Jouma', one of the most wanted by
Israel, said from his Nablus hideout.
Nablus was the scene of clashes on Friday between a Fateh-affiliated armed
group, Al Awda Brigades, and local police that resulted in injuries to three
people.
“These people [the Badr Brigades] have learnt the Arab way of dealing with
people. We are already suffering from this,” said Jouma', referring to what in
Palestinian parlance is known as the “outsiders,” who returned with the
establishment of the PA after the Oslo accords. “The Palestinian people, after
two Intifadas, will not respond well to this.”
The Israeli foreign ministry spokesman described talks between Mulki and Shalom
as “positive and business-like.”
“There was a certain level of energy and mutual willingness to restart bilateral
issues” between the two sides, he said.
One of these would appear to have been the proposal for the so-called Red-Dead
Canal, to replenish the diminishing waters of the Dead Sea with water from the
Red Sea.
In talks earlier Sunday with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Jordan
and Israel agreed to pursue the building of this canal, a project that had been
agreed with the PA in trilateral talks before the start of the Intifada.
Tourism and water desalination were also discussed in the meeting, along with
security cooperation and efforts towards reviving peace talks with the
Palestinians, it added.
Environmental experts have repeatedly warned that the Dead Sea is in danger of
drying up as the Kingdom, Israel and the Palestinians divert the Jordan River,
which feeds it, for agriculture.
Between 1960 and 2000, the Dead Sea dropped from 392 metres below sea level to
412 metres, according to Elias Salameh, geology professor at the University of
Jordan. He has warned that by 2010 the Dead Sea could have lost one-third of its
area compared to its nearly 1,000 square kilometres at the beginning of the
1960s.