Jordan Times
Sunday, June 13, 2004
By Khalid Dalal
AMMAN — The government on Saturday clarified that a delegation dispatched to the West Bank was not a security team but a “media group” on a reporting mission.Minister of State and Government Spokesperson Asma Khader said members of the Armed Forces' public relations office and Jordan TV were touring army field hospitals in Jenin and Ramallah to prepare a news report.
Agence France-Presse quoted Zakaria Zubeideh, the Jenin leader of Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, as claiming that the Fateh faction told the 10-member delegation to leave the city “because their visit has not been coordinated with [Palestinian President] Yasser Arafat.”
But Khader denied that the team was “harassed” by anyone, adding that it was still carrying out its fact-finding mission in “full coordination” with the Palestinian Authority.
The minister was quoted yesterday by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, as saying that the Kingdom will continue sending media teams to the Palestinian territories in the future to cover activities of army-run field hospitals.
Zubeideh told AFP the Jordanians travelled to Jenin Friday to study the idea of training Palestinian security members to assume control when Israel evacuates Jewish settlements under a plan to disengage from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The government said it was ready to train Palestinian security services but would not send troops to the West Bank.
Khader reiterated yesterday that the Jordanian-Palestinian ties are “deep-rooted and coordination between both sides is in its best shape.”