Palestine And The Arab League - Fake Freedom Fighters

[Published 24 January 2011]

The Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Arab League member States continue to deny their populations basic political rights and civil liberties - according to a Report recently published by Freedom House. At the same time the Arab League is mounting an intensive campaign to delegitimise Israel - the only State in the Middle East where such freedoms exist.

The Freedom House report is an annual survey of global political rights and civil liberties carried out in 194 countries and 14 territories around the World.

Freedom House defines itself as:

an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.”

In determining what constitutes “political rights” and “civil liberties” - Freedom House has drawn from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the following components of freedom which include an individual’s ability to:

1.Participate freely in the political process;
2.Vote freely in legitimate elections;
3.Have representatives that are accountable to them;
4.Exercise freedoms of expression and belief;
5.Be able to freely assemble and associate;
6.Have access to an established and equitable system of rule of law;
7.Have social and economic freedoms, including equal access to economic opportunities and the right to hold private property.

Freedom House has determined that 18 of the 22 Arab League member States all rate very poorly and fall into the category of being “Not Free” which is defined as :

“…one where basic political rights are absent and basic civil liberties are widely and systematically denied.”

The remaining 4 Arab League members are categorized as being “Partly Free” being countries which are defined as :

“characterised by some restrictions on political rights and civil liberties - often in the context of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic strife or civil law.”

Israel is the only State in the Middle East that is identified as being “Free“ meaning:

“a country where there is broad scope for open political political competition, a climate of respect for civil liberties, significant independent civic life and independent media”.

As Latin American States apparently fall over themselves to accord recognition to a non-existent Palestinian State in total contravention of international law as prescribed by the Montevideo Convention - it is time for them - and others who might be similarly minded - to ponder

1. what kind of State they are promoting and
2. the extent to which such State does not accord with the principles laid down in the Road Map - the basis on which all negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority have been conducted for the last seven years under the auspices of America, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations

The Road Map articulated that any such Palestinian State must be “democratic” as was made clear by the following provisions:

“A two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only be achieved through an end to violence and terrorism, when the Palestinian people have a leadership acting decisively against terror and willing and able to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty, and through Israel’s readiness to do what is necessary for a democratic Palestinian state to be established…

A settlement, negotiated between the parties, will result in the emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.”

The Freedom House Report notes that the Palestinian Authority controls up to 40% of the West Bank territory and 98% of the Palestinian population outside of East Jerusalem. Hamas controls 100% of Gaza as well as its entire population.

Any signs of a a leadership acting decisively to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty in either the West Bank or Gaza is totally absent according to the Freedom House Report.

The current push for recognition of “Palestine” as an independent State is becoming an exercise in creating yet another State whose citizens will continue to be denied the basic freedoms and civil liberties that are currently enjoyed by some of its current democratic proponents - Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

That was clearly not the objective of the Road Map - to which those Latin American States gave their support in 2003.

Since it still supposedly remains the only game in town prescribing the “two-state solution” - the Road Map is rapidly ending up as a document that

1. is not worth the paper it is written on
2. espouses a democratic state that will not be achieved and
3. has been rejected as the basis of a two-state solution by some democratic countries who have now decided to assign the civilian populations of the West Bank and Gaza to the same fate as all the surrounding Arab populations in the Middle East Arab States.

The Arab League meantime fails to recognize Israel and pursues campaigns encouraging boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel - whilst at the same time its member states deny their populations the political rights and civil liberties that are enjoyed by Israel’s population - including the 20% of Israel’s population that is Arab.

The Freedom House report stands as a monument to the eternal shame of the Arab League and to those democratic countries who have been seduced into accepting the Arab League’s spurious hate campaign to eradicate the State of Israel.

Fareed Zakaria - the host of CNN’s flagship foreign affairs show, Editor-at-Large of TIME Magazine, a Washington Post columnist, and a New York Times bestselling author described by Esquire Magazine as “the most influential foreign policy adviser of his generation.” - says of the Freedom House Report:

“While there are many sources of economic data, good political data is hard to find. Freedom House’s survey is an exception. For anyone concerned with the state of freedom, or simply with the state of the world, Freedom in the World is an indispensible guide.”

Those democratic States ignoring the clear message contained in the Report and abandoning the signposting in the Road Map are not doing themselves - or the cause of liberating long suffering Arab populations denied their basic political rights and civil liberties - any favours.

Palestine - Time For Hard Questions And Even Harder Answers

[Published 19 January 2011]

“The answers are getting harder and harder And there ain’t no way to bargain or to barter” ~Blues Traveler


The international failure to accept the final breakdown of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was yet again highlighted in the communique issued in Sydney on 18 January 2011 at the conclusion of the Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations between Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Kevin Rudd and Minister for Defence Stephen Smith, and the United Kingdom’s First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague and Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox.

It seems as though both countries were living in a dream world of their own as they solemnly pronounced:
“Australia and the UK highlighted their strong support for a just and enduring peace in the Middle East based on a negotiated two-state solution where Israel and a future Palestinian state live side by side in peace and security. Both countries highlighted the urgent need for Israel and the Palestinians to return, as a matter of urgency, to direct talks on final status issues, and to refrain from actions which undermined confidence, such as settlement construction. Both countries reaffirmed their practical support for Palestinian institution-building in preparation for statehood.”
Surely the Ministers were engaging in wishful thinking with no possible hope of their wish-list ever coming to fruition.

With:

(i) direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority effectively ended,
ii) an impotent Quartet comprising America, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations unable to bring the parties together and
(iii)a raft of countries recognizing or threatening to recognize a non- existent , undefined and undeclared 22nd Arab State between Israel, Jordan and Egypt in flagrant violation of international law

- it surely is time to question whether there is any reasonable prospect of ever achieving a negotiated two-state solution between Jews and Arabs pursuant to the Oslo Accords formulated in 1993 and the Roadmap proposed by President Bush in 2002.

There are those countries such as Australia and Great Britain that apparently believe such a resolution is still possible.

Yet 17 years of negotiations have only seen

(i) the division of the West Bank into three administrative districts and
(ii) the unilateral decision taken by Israel to evacuate Gaza in 2005.

The evacuation of Gaza has proved a total disaster

(i) ruining the lives of thousands of Jews forcibly removed from their homes,
(ii) splitting the area proposed for the new Arab state - the West Bank and Gaza - into two separate and separately administered entities with no prospects of reconciliation between the two governing political entities - the Palestinian Authority and Hamas
(iii)sparking the return of Israel’s army to Gaza in December 2009 to root out the threat posed to Israel’s civilian population by the indiscriminate firing of thousands of rockets from Gaza
(iv) causing Israel and Egypt to impose a blockade to prevent the entry of terrorists, arms and war materiel into Gaza

witnessing an ever increasing level of violence from Gaza and retaliation by Israel

Gaza and Hamas now appear to have been placed in the “too hard basket” by the international community. Instead it has thrown its weight behind the Palestinian Authority in seeking to resolve the issue of sovereignty in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - a far cry from the two-state solution posited by Oslo and the Roadmap.

Administrative responsibility for 95% of the West Bank Arab population has been vested in the Palestinian Authority and has indeed begun to see a marked improvement in their daily lives.

However the continuing refusal of the Palestinian Authority to moderate its political claims to sovereignty in anything less than 100% of the entire territory of the West Bank remains a stumbling block that has precluded any progress at all in resolving the division of sovereignty in the West Bank between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

There are other impediments to the conflict that have defied resolution and increasingly make it certain that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are already dead and buried.

If countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom still believe otherwise - then they would do well to seek answers to the following questions from both Israel and the Palestinian Authority:

1. Is the Palestinian Authority prepared to recognize Israel as the Jewish National Home reconstituted pursuant to the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the United Nations Charter?

2. Does the Palestinian Authority intend to persist with its demand that every square centimeter of the West Bank be ceded to it by Israel or is it prepared to accept less in exchange for an equivalent land swap by Israel?

3. Is Israel prepared to contemplate a land swap?

4. Is the Palestinian Authority still committed to former Arab residents of what is now Israel or their descendants being given the right to return to live there, what would be the appropriate number the Palestinian Authority would demand be given this right and what number would Israel be prepared to accept?

5. Is Israel prepared to allow the creation of a 22nd Arab State between Israel and Jordan in the West Bank with full and unfettered access and control over West Bank air space?

6. Is the Palestinian Authority prepared to accept a State in the West Bank with restricted control over its air space?

7. Is Israel prepared to evacuate and relocate all the Jewish residents of the West Bank?

8. Is Israel prepared to cede its claims to sovereignty in any part of Jerusalem?
On any minimal understanding of the conflict - one could not expect answers to these questions that would pose the slightest optimism in believing the negotiated two-state solution has any chance of success.

The sooner alternative solutions are introduced to replace the failed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority - the sooner the current dangerous impasse that threatens the resumption of hostilities can be averted.

Arabs start to tell the truth

This video is compulsory viewing for those who genuinely seek to see an end to the 130 years old Jewish-Arab conflict.



Hear what the Arabs are now starting to say.

Following is an abbreviated transcript of what is said on the video.

"Why do Palestinians really want an Arab state inside the Land of Israel ?

Why do they want to turn Judea and Samaria (west bank) into an Arab/Palestinian state when they already have a palestinian state in Jordan?

Palestinian official, Abbas Zaki, a member of Fatah's centeral comittee, told Al-Jazeera on September 23, 2011:

"Don't Tell the World We Want to Wipe Out Israel ...President [Abbas] understands, we understand, and everybody knows that the greater goal cannot be accomplished in one go. If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, evacuates the 650,000 settlers, and dismantles the wall - what will become of Israel? It will come to an end.""If we say that we want to wipe Israel out....C'mon, it's too difficult. I! t's not [acceptable] policy to say so. Don't say these things to the world. Keep it to yourself."

Way back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said: 

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people."

Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist :

"Why is it that on June 4th 1967 I was a Jordanian and overnight I became a Palestinian?  

"We considered ourselves Jordanian until the Jews returned to Jerusalem. Then all of the sudden we were Palestinians -- they removed the star from the Jordanian flag and all at once we had a Palestinian flag."

On 26 December 1981, King Hussein declared in an interview with the Arab newspaper "A - Nahar Al - Arabi" that

          "The truth is that Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan."

A Palestinian State - Not A Priority

[Published 23 May 2014]

By Yoram Ettinger

The Palestinian issue has benefited from the Arab/Muslim talk, but — due to the Palestinian record of intra-Arab subversion — has never been supported by the Arab/Muslim walk. Arab/Muslim policy makers have never considered the Palestinian issue a strategic interest, but rather a tactical instrument to advance intra-Arab or Muslim interests and to annihilate the Jewish state.

Irrespective of this, Palestine has been a geographic, not a national, concept, as evidenced by the lack of distinct, cohesive national character of its Arab inhabitants. This lack of cohesion has been intensified by the violent internal fragmentation along various lines: cultural (such as Bedouin vs. rural vs. urban sectors), geographic (e.g. mountain vs. coastal Arabs, southern vs. northern, Hebron vs. Bethlehem, Nablus vs. Ramallah, Nablus vs. Hebron), ethnic, ideological, political (pro- or anti-Jordan), historical and tribal identity. Such turbulent fragmentation was fueled by the multitude of Arab or Muslim migration waves from Bosnia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, the Arabian Peninsula, Syria and Lebanon.

The establishment of a Palestinian state was not on the agenda of the non-Arab Muslim Ottoman Empire, which ruled the area from 1517 through 1917. The Ottomans linked the area, defined by most Arabs as a region within Southern Syria or the Levant, to the Damascus and Beirut provinces.

The British Empire, which dominated the Middle East from 1917 until the end of World War II, did not contemplate a Palestinian Arab state, while establishing a series of Arab countries throughout the Middle East. Moreover, the 1917 Balfour Declaration dedicated Palestine, including Jordan, to the Jewish homeland. The 1920 San Remo Resolution, formulated by the principal Allied Powers, formalized the Balfour Declaration-based British Mandate for Palestine, which was ratified on Aug. 12, 1922, by the League of Nations, eventually transferring 77 percent of Palestine (Jordan) to the Arabs. The U.S. House and Senate approved it unanimously on June 30, 1922. In 1945, the Mandate for Palestine was integrated into the U.N. Charter via Article 80, which precludes alterations, and is still legally binding.

Jordan and Egypt occupied Judea and Samaria and Gaza from 1949 through 1967, but did not ponder the establishment of a Palestinian state; nor did the Arab League.

According to Dr. Yuval Arnon-Ohanna of Ariel University, who headed the Palestinian Desk at the Mossad Research Division, the secretary-general of the Arab League, Azzam Pasha, stated in September 1947 that the core problem was not a Palestinian state or Jewish expansionism. The only priority was the duty to uproot the Jewish presence from Palestine, which was defined by Muslims as “Waqf” — an area divinely endowed to Islam and not to the “infidel.”

The elimination of Jews was the top priority of the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, the founder and president of the (Palestinian) Arab Higher Committee and a collaborator with Nazi Germany. In September 1941, he submitted a memo to Adolf Hitler on “the resolution of the Jewish problem in the Middle East in the same manner it is resolved in Europe,” planning the construction of Auschwitz-like crematoriums in the Dothan Valley, adjacent to Nablus in Samaria. In fact, Mahmoud Abbas recently expressed his admiration for al-Husseini as a hero and martyr. Abbas appointed the current grand mufti of Jerusalem, who continues al-Husseini’s anti-Jewish hate education.

The limited role of the Palestinian issue was highlighted during the 1948 War of Independence. Jordan launched the war to eliminate the Jewish state, expand to the Mediterranean and advance the goal to dominate Greater Syria. Egypt and Saudi Arabia entered the war despite their inadequate military infrastructure, in order to abort Jordan’s imperialistic strategy. Iraq joined the war, aiming to control the oil pipeline from Iraq to Haifa. Syria assumed that the destruction of the Jewish state would facilitate the reassertion of Greater Syria. On Sept. 20, 1948, the Arab League recognized the Arab government of the whole of Palestine, but ignored it, declaring it null and void in 1951-1952, causing the U.N. to refuse Palestinian participation in the General Assembly proceedings.

None of the Arab countries fought on behalf of, or due to, Palestinian Arab aspirations. They did not share with the Palestinian Arabs the spoils of war. Iraq occupied Samaria and transferred it to Jordan, which occupied Judea. In April 1950, Jordan annexed Judea and Samaria to the east bank of the Jordan River, naming it the West Bank. Egypt occupied Gaza and, just like Jordan, did not allow Palestinian nationalistic activities. None of the ensuing Arab-Israeli wars (1956, 1967, 1969-70 and 1973) were Palestinian-driven.

Furthermore, the Israel-Palestinian/PLO wars of 1982 (in Lebanon), 1987-1991 (the First Intifada) and 2000-2004 (the Second Intifada) and Israel’s wars with Hamas in 2009 and 2012 (in Gaza) did not engage the Arab states militarily or financially.

During the October 1994 Israel-Jordan peace signing ceremony, top Jordanian military leaders told their Israeli counterparts that “a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would doom the Hashemite kingdom east of the river.”

The Arab League and the U.N. did not raise the issue of a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza until 1967, when the issue was raised as a means to undermine the survival of the Jewish state.

In fact, the Palestinian issue has never been a chief axis of U.S.-Israel relations. While the two administrations have never agreed on the Palestinian issue, their strategic cooperation has surged dramatically due to joint interests, mutual threats and shared values, which significantly transcend the Palestinian issue and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

However, ignoring reality, Western policy makers consider the Palestinian issue the crown jewel of Arab policy-making, the core cause of Middle Eastern developments and the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict. An erroneous underlying, Palestinian-driven assumption has produced an erroneous policy, radicalizing Arab and Palestinian expectations, fueling terrorism and inherent Middle Eastern instability, distancing the parties from peace and bringing them closer to war, and undermining Western national security and vital economic interests.

Islamic extremism on rise in Jordan

Members of Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra man a checkpoint on the border crossing between Syria and Jordan, which they claim to have taken control of, in Daraa, Dec. 26, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Ammar Khassawneh)

Islamic extremism on rise in Jordan

Fire is under the ashes, and the wind is nearby. This is how Jordanian politicians describe the situation in their country these days.

Summary⎙ Print The Islamists in Jordan are growing stronger, which is linked to the war in Syria.

Author Jean AzizPosted May 18, 2014

Translator(s)Rani Geha

A number of Jordanian politicians are touring neighboring countries to explain to their officials what is going on in Jordan, and to explore the international perspective over what is “being prepared” for Jordan.

A delegation from the Jordanian Council on Foreign Relations visited Lebanon late last week. The delegation’s members looked worried, and a prominent Jordanian politician and council member explained to Al-Monitor the risk indicators on the Jordanian scene.

He said three indicators should be especially considered. 

• First is the spread of arms in the country. The price of a Kalashnikov rifle has become an international indicator about the level of militia arming in third world countries, and its price is now less than $500 in Jordan. Two years ago, a Kalashnikov was rare and cost no less than $2,000. The drastic drop in price indicates that the rifle is abundant and the market could be flooded. He said that the weapons are mostly coming through the Syrian border.
• The second risk indicator on the Jordanian scene is the Sunni fundamentalists. Reports by various media outlets of the April 17 airstrike by Jordanian fighters on a Syrian opposition convoy transporting weapons to Jordan have become almost daily news for Jordanians. The council member said that, in Amman, there is talk about regular convoys that cross the border to Jordan from near Daraa in Syria, and those convoys are loaded with large quantities of weapons of all types. But who is behind these operations? According to him it is the Sunni Islamist fundamentalists, in particular groups affiliated with al-Qaeda or that aspire to be. 

The Jordanian Islamist groups are heading toward more militancy, extremism and fundamentalism, until they reach the stage of armed jihadism, the politician said. The politician gave this example: The recent events in Maan were a clear warning and an alarm bell that rang in the ears of all Jordanians and of everyone concerned with the situation in Jordan. Starting on April 23, the Jordanian province in the south has seen a complete security breakdown and serious armed unrest. The events began with the killing of a fundamentalist by the state’s security forces as they were trying to arrest him. Matters suddenly evolved into armed confrontations and a kind of civil disobedience.

The council member explained the importance of the Maan events. He said the Maan region is the largest Jordanian province and is located in the south of the country on the border with Saudi Arabia. It has the road historically used by Muslim pilgrims headed to Mecca. This is what made the province an Islamist stronghold throughout the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Even when the Muslim Brotherhood was a tiny minority in the country, the group was still able to have one of its members elected as a Maan deputy. However, after the recent Arab developments and the growing strength of extremist groups, it became apparent that Maan’s Islamists are no longer with the Muslim Brotherhood, but have become mostly Salafist jihadists, according to him.

During Muslim holidays, the people are categorized according to how many worshippers listen to mosque preachers with known political affiliations. The Muslim Brotherhood came in third place, the pro-government preachers came in second and Salafist-jihadist preachers came in first, as they attracted the most worshippers in this area of 80,000 people.

Most of the people in the area acted against the Jordanian authorities in the last week of April. They closed roads and attacked government buildings and centers, both civilian and military. The city almost became an independent statelet within Jordan. What’s more, it seemed that a number of neighboring regions were ready to do the same. Most importantly, the leaders of the jihadist movement in Maan came out publicly and told the media what could be understood as the movement's adopting the disturbances, and also leading them. This dangerous reality is happening amid an abundance of arms, according to the Kalashnikov indicator. In addition, there is a heavy presence of displaced Syrians in Jordan. All that is worrying Jordanian politicians that something serious is being prepared for their country.

• The third risk indicator, the Jordanian politician explained, is the Islamists trying to find a “suitable soil” for sectarian strife and factionalism within Jordan. This is unprecedented in the state’s history. He gave a clear example: On May 1, a Salafist party invited Saudi Sheikh Mohammad al-Arifi, who is well known for his fundamentalist extremism, to deliver a lecture at the University of Jordan in Amman. It should be noted that the sheikh is known to have issued extremist fatwas in the past. After the lecture, the organizers arranged to distribute to the media the news that a Christian Jordanian girl, from the area of Ajloun in the ​​north of the country, came forward, after Arifi’s sermon, to declare that she had converted to Islam and was now a Muslim. Hours later, a news report claimed that the girl’s parents killed her in her hometown as punishment for leaving her religion.

The two news reports were enough to turn the atmosphere in Jordan into something similar to what we see in areas of Egypt with both Islamists and Copts, when, for instance, following a girl's conversion to Islam or Christianity dozens are killed without any questions raised or clarifications made. In the case of Jordan, it should be noted that no one confirmed whether the news reports were true. In fact, subsequently it was argued that the reports were false. But it was enough to reveal the sectarian incitement initiated by Islamists in Jordan.

The Jordanian politician ended the interview with Al-Monitor by saying, “It’s ironic that a Jordanian government minister discussed all this in a meeting with a number of Jordanian civil society activists. He even told them that he had preliminary information indicating that parties in a 'major Gulf state adjacent to Jordan' are responsible for everything that’s happening in Amman.”

His words leaked and the news spread quickly, which led to a silent diplomatic crisis between the two neighbors. The crisis ended when that same minister took the initiative to hold a luncheon, to which more than 1,000 people were invited, in honor of the state's ambassador the minister had accused. The accusation was refuted. But there is still fire under the ashes in Jordan. When will the wind reach it? The Jordanian politician said, “The timing is settled. It’s when the internal war starts among the armed Islamist wings in Daraa, Syria. That will be the signal of it moving to Jordan.”

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/05/jordan-fears-syria-war-islamists.html?utm_source=Al-Monitor+Newsletter+%5BEnglish%5D&utm_campaign=8cc8c8b817-May_19_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_28264b27a0-8cc8c8b817-100366937#ixzz32DGnzELA

Security deteriorates in south Jordan city

Al Monitor

Published 2 May 2014Jordan,Maanunrest,

Security deteriorates in south Jordan city

The Jordanian political sphere is wrong to think what is happening in the southern city of Maan is normal. It is even more wrong to believe that the old methods used to address the crises of this marginalized and poor province have yielded results and strategic solutions. Had these solutions proven effective, the city would not have become in the past few days a ghost city filled with military vehicles, fear and anticipation.

Summary⎙ Print The security situation in Maan, Jordan is deteriorating as officials turn a blind eye to serious threats that might affect the Hashemite Kingdom.

Author Moussa BarhoumehPosted May 2, 2014

Translator(s)Steffi Chakti

Original Article اقرا المقال الأصلي باللغة العربية

If the official neglect of this crisis continues, Maan could become the spark that ignites the explosive barrels found in many cities and provinces in Jordan. For a while, this country has been living according to the belief that the unrest and daily killing in neighboring countries renders the sacrifice of reform an acceptable, tolerable and agreed upon issue by different political parties.

This belief can benefit from the state of fear spreading among Jordanians, and can feed on the country's stability (relative to its neighbors). Despite its relevance, this does not mean that disturbing security issues related to reform packages, the openness toward various movements, the drifting away from the mindset of the exclusion of the other and the implementation of a genuine plan that does not aim at creating media buzz should be disregarded. This plan should tackle the issue of development in the less fortunate provinces, mainly Maan.

Financial and administrative corruption is compromising not only the credibility of the government but also that of the rule itself. This issue should be tackled by the means of innovative, transparent and convincing tools. Walid al-Kurdi, the husband of the king’s aunt, for example, was involved in corruption cases without being subject to prosecution that proves satisfactory to the public opinion. The latter has doubts that the regime is trying to sweep the embarrassing issue under the rug.

As a result of these complicated problems, the old-new disobedience in Maan, which is located on the border with Saudi Arabia, was born. Every house contains arms, and sometimes, groups adopting jihadist rhetoric own relatively heavy arms. This is the case with Mohammad al-Shalabi al-Makna, dubbed Abu Sayyaf, who is one of this group’s influential figures in Jordan. 

Maan has not been able to integrate itself into the state. Impressions are piling up that this province is above the law, something proven by the latest developments, wherein the headquarters of intelligence and military intelligence were set ablaze. Meanwhile, a strike convened by activists and adopted by society’s institutions has had deep significance. Obviously, the state does not consider the latter issue and instead employs useless, absurd and short-sighted measures, considering Maan a mere security issue and failing to think outside the box to find solutions that are influential on the ground.

Such solutions should bridge the gap between state and society and dispel concerns among people who are fed up with the government's promises to develop this distressed city. The inhabitants struggle with the highest levels of unemployment and poverty among all 12 provinces, even though the government announced it allocated $100 million of its last budget to implement development projects this year in the city.

During the protests in Maan, angry slogans were chanted, such as “down with the regime.” However, this does not mean that these slogans express an urgent social and political desire among people. Yet, the use of this slogan expresses the feeling that the father, in the psychological sense of the word, is competing with his son and is not showing enough care. 

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2014/05/jordan-situation-maan-ignoring.html?utm_source=Al-Monitor+Newsletter+%5BEnglish%5D&utm_campaign=80aebe7f5f-January_9_20141_8_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_28264b27a0-80aebe7f5f-100366937#ixzz30qxy728Q