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Delegation Reports
PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION TO JORDAN
3 TO 8
DECEMBER 2006
Outward Delegation to Jordan 3 to 8 December 2006
Report by Mark Hendrick MP
Delegation
Mark Hendrick MP
Leader Labour
Christine Russell MP
Labour
Kevan Jones MP
Labour
Rt Hon Lord Fowler Conservative
Baroness Hooper
Conservative
Baroness Northover
Liberal Democrat
Kenneth Courtenay
General Secretary
British Group IPU
This was my first visit to Jordan - but definitely not my last. The quality
of the people we met and the location all added up to a thoroughly stimulating
and enjoyable experience.
The visit commenced with a meeting with the Minister of Islamic Affairs,
Mr Abdelfattah Salah. He presides over a Ministry responsible for over
four thousand Mosques, a similar number of Imams, and 500 representatives
in Jerusalem as well as the thousands throughout Jordan. It has direct
contact to the 1.5 million people who attend Friday prayers, and has more
of an impact than any of the mass media.
Mr Salah presented us with a copy of the Amman Message. This is a document
compiled as a result of a conference held in Amman last year, attended
by many Muslim scholars from all over the Islamic world.
It depicts a moderate and tolerant interpretation of Islam which permeates
the Kingdom of Jordan and has considerable influence outside of Jordan
as well. It has been translated into seven languages and provides a refreshing
contrast to the more extreme forms of Islam so often depicted by the mass
media as if it is the norm.
We also met the Speaker of the Lower House of Representatives, Mr Abdelhadi
Majali, who discussed the structure and powers of the Jordanian Parliament,
which as a first time visitor I believed (quite wrongly), had few powers
in a governmental system described as a constitutional monarchy.
The Parliament has the power to reject legislative proposals from the
King, although that power is reciprocated by the King. However, the nature
of the Jordanian political system ensures that that power is very unlikely
to be used, given the make-up of the wholly appointed Upper House (the
Senate.)
The meeting with the Prime Minister, Dr Marouf Bakhet, was fascinating.
He gave equal weight to domestic issues and foreign affairs, talking about
reform of government and the political system, as well as Jordan's precarious
geographical position in the Middle East and its equally precarious relations
with its neighbours such as Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon,
Syria and Iraq.
The job of this Prime Minister is definitely a 'high wire' act without
the safety net, and he appeared more than qualified to do it given his
previous experience as an ambassador having served in Israel and Lebanon.
His depth of understanding of the political environment in the region,
coupled with his measured judgement and sensitivity to the motives of
neighbouring governments in the region, I found breathtaking.
He spoke of the "linkage" that is now accepted as a "reality"
by most governments and that what is happening in the Lebanon and Iraq
are just symptoms of the failure to solve the Palestine problem.
The Foreign Minister, Mr Abdul Ilah Khatib, was also impressive. Surprisingly,
he used the example of the European Union as a model for economic integration
that he would like to see pursued in the Middle East.
As a Europhile, I found this very uplifting, because so much of the British
media neglects the positive aspects of European integration, and puts
the sixty years of relative peace in Europe solely down to NATO.
Dr Khatib believed that the European Union can play an important role
in the region, and was quite capable, given political will, to balance
the role of the "great powers as well as the superpower."
He believed that regional integration was essential if Iran was not to
dominate it and be the cause of conflict, in the same way that a war in
Europe with Germany involved in it is now unthinkable because of what
I would call the 'Europeanisation' of Germany.
The meetings were punctuated by two deeply contrasting excursions. The
first was to the Dead Sea, which became the focus of discussion with the
Minister for Water and Irrigation.
Water is 'big politics' in the Middle East, and ambitious plans to link
the Red Sea with the Dead Sea are currently being negotiated between states
surrounding the seas.
The aim is to restore the original level of the Dead Sea for environmental
reasons and also to transport water from the Red Sea for desalination
to improve supply for agriculture and for drinking.
The second excursion was to the Hitteen Refugee Camp, which is the home
to 45,000 Palestinians many of whom were displaced as a result of the
conflict in 1967.
The conditions as one would expect are poor, but compared with camps in
Gaza or the West Bank are probably better.
The United Nations is doing as much as possible with the help of the Jordanian
government in the areas of education, health and welfare but, as one would
expect, there is always more that the International community could do.
At the end of this visit, I was left with the overall impression that
Jordan was a country changing quickly in a fast changing world.
It was modernising itself at a pace, was an oasis of tolerance in a desert
of intolerance, and I believe a force for good in the region.
The good relations that exist between the UK and Jordan should be maintained
at all costs, because the political fallout from the war in Iraq has done
so much to sully the UK's reputation in the region.
We really must start to win more friends and influence people, many of
whom attribute the problems in the region to Britain's role in 1948 and
its failure to properly honour the Balfour Declaration of 1917.
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