Last update - 00:00 10/05/2007
Jordanian opposition blasts visit by 50 Israeli activists to Amman
A coalition of Jordanian opposition parties and trade unions Thursday condemned a planned visit to the country by 50 Israeli peace activists for a meeting with Jordanian opinion leaders.
The Executive Committee for Confronting Normalization with Israel said the invitation was extended to the Israelis by former Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul Salam Majali, who visited Israel last week at the head of a Jordanian non-government delegation.
The panel urged a cessation of all forms of normalization of ties with Israel and lashed out at Majali, whose visit to Israel "carried dangerous gestures".
Majali led the Jordanian delegation during negotiations that led to the signing of a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.
"By doing so, Majali is trying to salvage the government of [Ehud Olmert] following the Winograd panel report that rebuked the Israeli premier over his pitfalls during the war with Lebanon's Hezbollah's militias last summer", the committee said in a statement.
The panel expressed astonishment over Majali's visit to Israel at a time when it was going ahead with the building of the separation wall and settlements and carrying out excavations at al-Aqsa Mosque.
The statement was responding to a report by the daily Alarab Alyawm which said that 50 Israeli activists were expected in Amman Thursday for a meeting with Jordanian intellectuals in a bid to explain the Arab peace initiative that was readopted by the Arab leaders in their last summit in Riyadh at the end of March.
"A triangular encounter grouping activists from Israel, Jordan and Palestinian territories will be held later at the port of Aqaba on the Red Sea", the paper said.