Jordan Times
Friday, January 4, 2008
Foreign minister meets
with Lower House committee
Members of the Lower House Committee on Arab and International Affairs and
Foreign Minister Salah Bashir agreed on Thursday to hold periodic meetings to
encourage parliamentarian diplomatic efforts. During a meeting, chaired by the
committee’s president Deputy Mohammad Abu Hdeib with the foreign minister, the
deputies posed several questions regarding the situation in Iraq, the conditions
of Jordanian prisoners abroad and the progress of peace talks between the
Palestinians and Israelis. Bashir briefed committee members on the Kingdom’s
efforts, led by His Majesty King Abdullah, to push the peace negotiations
forward. The minister stressed the need for intensive international efforts to
put an immediate end to all Israeli settlement activities, underlining the
importance of Israel taking measures to alleviate the Palestinians’ suffering.
Bashir also pledged to provide the committee with names of all Jordanian
prisoners held in Israeli prisons and in other Arab countries at their next
meeting, along with the reasons for their detention, Abu Hdeib said.