Jordan Times
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Muasher meets Shaath
AMMAN (JT) — Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher on Wednesday stressed that “there
is no crisis” in the Jordanian-Palestinian relations.
Muasher told reporters after meeting his Palestinian counterpart, Nabil Shaath,
that the two sides need to continuously coordinate their stands to better serve
the Palestinian cause and mutual interests. “There is no crisis between Jordan
and Palestine. We have common interests and therefore honesty and advice are
needed when we feel this is in our common interest,” Muasher was quoted by
Agence France-Presse as saying.
“Advice does not mean, God forbid, that there is a desire to cut these
relations. On the contrary, we want more coordination and more consultations
because we have common interests and they are an end to Israeli occupation.”
Shaath agreed and said Jordan and the Palestinians had a “strategic alliance.”
“Difference in political vision does not mean there is a crisis in the
Jordanian-Palestinian ties,” Shaath said as reported by the Jordan News Agency,
Petra.
“That is why it is necessary to overcome any problems that may arise. We meet
and we solve them. Naturally, we must speak with openness and frankness and seek
each other's advice when we feel that necessary to serve the joint aim we have,
namely, ending the Israeli occupation.”
Last week, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said, following a meeting
with Premier Faisal Fayez in Amman, that “there is no future for Palestine
without transparent relations with Jordan.”
His Majesty King Abdullah has criticised the Palestinian leadership for its
wavering demands and called for urgent reforms at the top level in order to move
the peace process back on track. “We want the Palestinian leadership to declare
clearly what it wants and not surprise us every now and then with some decisions
or by accepting things that it did not accept before,” King Abdullah told the
Saudi-based Al Arabiya satellite channel in an interview earlier this month.
Fayez told Qureia that King Abdullah's statements “were clear and sound in
reiterating Jordan's interest in the establishment of an independent Palestinian
state and return of refugees.”