Jordan Times
Monday, Decmber 28, 1998
Regent outlines Jordan's position on Iraqi situation
Following is the full text of the speech by HRH Crown Prince Hassan, the Regent, delivered to the Arab Parliamentary Union meeting held in Amman Sunday:
Let me start by first asking you to recite sourat Al Fateha for our martyrs.
I WELCOME you in this Holy Month of Ramadan, the month in which the Holy Koran was revealed. I welcome you in Amman, the capital of Jordan, a country that takes pride in the Arab Nation and is deeply rooted in its origins. I do wish you a comfortable stay here in Amman and a successful conference to which our Arab Nation is looking forward. I am confident that His Majesty King Hussein, who with God's grace has recovered from his illness and is expected to return home soon, is following your deliberations with keen interest. He wishes you all success in your work and hopes that your conference will adopt a sensible stand that serves the interest of Iraq.
This emergent high-level meeting comes to ascertain the solidarity of the Arab Nation representatives with the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people have suffered from violent bombardment, the death of men and women and the destruction of the infrastructure of their country. Nevertheless, they still uphold the dignity and pride of the Arabs.
Our stand of solidarity with the Iraqi people does not arise out of pity; but is meant to convey a message to our Iraqi brethren that we are with them soul and heart, defending their dignity as well as their right to free and respectable life. In fact we want for them to lead a safe and secure life in their homeland among their fellow countrymen and to enjoy freedom, democracy and other human rights.
Let us agree from the outset that our solidarity with the Iraqi people and that our defending their basic rights is paramount to defending the people of any Arab country who might be subjected to aggression and suffering.
It is true that this is an emergency meeting, yet in dealing with the issue at hand we should have a comprehensive view of the whole situation, otherwise we will have to schedule another emergency meeting, God forbid.
We, in Jordan, do know Iraq and its people; we know its glorious history and great civilisations. We also know that Baghdad, Kufah, Babel, and other Iraqi cities are live examples of the glory of the nation to which we belong. For it was on the banks of Tigris and the Euphrates that the civilisations of the Sumerians, Assyerians, Babylonians and Persians had flourished before the advent of the glorious Islamic civilisation, this civilisation of enlightenment and moderation. Throughout history, Iraq has witnessed successive settlement of peoples of diverse origins whose civilisations have contributed to the making of this country. Wherever one looks he will not fail to spot traces of these civilisations.
Our stance in Jordan concerning the Iraqi people rests on the following principles:
1. To preserve the dignity of the Iraqi people, and their right to lead a free life;
2. To maintain the continuity between Iraq's glorious past, present, and promising future;
3. To preserve the unity of the Iraqi soil;
4. To guarantee equal rights and justice to all people regardless of origin, religion or ethnic background. This is our practice in Jordan and it is what we aspire to see in every Arab country.
In order to avoid the recurrence of the tragedy of Iraq, we should reject any call or plan to divide or partition Iraq on geographical or ethnic grounds. We also reject the establishment of any state in its north or neighbourhood based on race or religion, because we do not approve of the Balkanisation of the region. In this connection we particularly appreciate the position adopted by our brethren in the Gulf states, Egypt and North African Arab countries with regard to the unity of the Iraqi soil and the dignity of its people. We similarly appreciate their keen desire for Iraq to return to the Arab ranks, for it is our contention that peace and security in our region cannot be achieved without Iraq.
We in Jordan have in principle rejected the policy of economic sanctions against any state, in particular our Arab countries. This is why we have rejected the blockade on Iraq, Libya, the Sudan, Palestine and for that matter any other Arab country. This unfair policy which is directed against the basic rights of man to existence cannot accomplish its objectives; for it is quite unacceptable on humanistic grounds and is futile from a political perspective. The right to existence has been the major concern of the New International Humanitarian Order in whose establishment I had the honour to participate. It is most gratifying for me that the United Nations have endorsed over 120 out the 170 resolutions put forward by the Independent Committee of the International Humanitarian Issues which I am honoured to have chaired for several years.
In the context of our solidarity with the Iraqi people we would like to see its prisoners of war released. Similarly, we would like to see all Arab prisoners of war return home. As long as there is a single Arab prisoner of war or a missing soldier who has not returned home in Kuwait or any other Arab or Islamic state, our duty dictates that we should exert honest, sincere, and transparent efforts in order to put an end to this tragic situation.
We in Jordan believe in international legitimacy and the need to abide by it. We also believe that dialogue and the just implementation of international legitimacy in accordance with explicit criteria constitute the most effective means to ensure and guarantee the right of people to live in peace and security within their own borders. As for use of force, we contend that it should be the last resort in accordance with the spirits and principles of the U.N. Charter, and only after all possible peaceful means have been exhausted.
In Jordan, we hold fast to the right of our citizens and the citizens of all countries in this region to live in peace, free of the threat of weapons of mass destruction. In this steadfast country, which lies in the heart of regional conflicts, we endeavour to keep the entire region free of weapons of mass destruction and the means of producing, storing and using them. However, this principal should apply to all with no exception, whatsoever.
The inspection of weapons of mass destruction, whether carried out in accordance with current international conventions or agreements or in accordance with a special resolution against a specific country as is the case with Iraq, should be compatible with certain criteria that specify the extent of adherence to such conventions and resolutions. Each and every country should accept such criteria or else it should be isolated and rejected by the international consensus and solidarity in order to implement such political resolutions.
The Iraqi people, who have suffered a great deal, should not be left without a programme of humanitarian aid which should secure their needs and relieve their suffering. Such a programme should be free from political pressure and interests, and should adopt a fair and just policy for the distribution of aid. If, in this conference, we manage to agree on such principles, we should be lending much needed support to the Iraqi people, for none of us would like these people to hold a grudge against the Arab Nation.
This conference should take the initiative to explicate with facts and figures the amount of suffering and to specify the means to put an end to such suffering in collaboration with the international organisations that have so far helped the Iraqi people with integrity and impartiality. In fact, several Islamic, European and Asian countries do show solidarity with the Iraqi people on purely humanistic grounds. In this context, we should bear in mind that the reconstruction of what has been damaged by the intensive bombardment requires remarkable efforts by the international community.
At this point we need to ask ourselves this question: “For how long should our efforts and viewpoints remain scattered to the winds, whenever an emergency or a crisis befalls this or that Arab country?” Indeed, we still hear conflicting voices and contradictory views in our quest for a mechanism and an implementation plan to confront the challenges and problems facing our nation. Similarly, we hear varied proposals ranging from calls for an emergency summit or a meeting of the Arab League Council to calls for a meeting of a limited number of Arab countries. Ours is the only region which has remained without a code of ethics governing multilateral and bilateral relations amongst its countries. Nor have we developed a strategy for handling crises and settling conflicts in an impartial manner. That explains why external interference in our region has become an easy, yet costly, matter. In this regard you, representatives of the Arab peoples, are no doubt capable of making up for this deficiency through devising the appropriate strategy and mechanisms. In so doing, we can prove to the entire world that this troubled region has, like other regions, its own identity and plans to face the future.
Wars have squandered and used up the riches of this region. The Iraqi-Iranian War, which lasted for eight long years, and the subsequent invasion of Kuwait are but clear evidence of the need for this region to contain its own problems. Further, since 1991 the region has spent over $300 billion on armament at a time when it was in a dire need to allocate this money in construction and human development.
Furthermore, the Islamic Republic of Iran, which lies between the two oil regions of the Gulf and Caspian Sea, should not remain outside our regional framework. We should also encourage its growing relations with the Arab countries and its willingness to engage in constructive dialogue with us.
As for our people in Palestine, we firmly and wholeheartedly support them in their quest to accomplish their goals and establish their independent state on their national soil. We are all of the opinion that the deterioration of the peace process in Palestine is to a large extent a consequence of the absence of consensus amongst us. It is also due to the fact that some countries do not honour the agreements they concluded with others, when they should do so. Peace and stability in the region cannot be accomplished if internal politics and partisan rivalry are transported to other parts of the world, outside their regional context, thus serving as a pretext for evading international and regional obligations.
May Allah guide you into doing what is best for our nation; and long live the Arab World, free and independent.
May the peace and blessings of Allah be with you.