Jordan opposition skeptical over Jordan's admission to GCC

By ABDUL JALIL MUSTAFA | ARAB NEWS
May 18, 2011

AMMAN: A coalition of Jordanian opposition parties on Tuesday warned against the "political and security implications” of the decision by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders to admit Jordan into the oil-rich Arab bloc.

The Higher Coordination Committee of the Opposition Parties held an emergency meeting to discuss the offer in detail on Tuesday and cautioned that the move could lead to the normalization of ties between the GCC countries and Israel.

"The committee welcomes any step that boosts the joint Arab action in general, but the ongoing political developments in the region and the reported proposals for resolving the Arab-Zionist conflict stir concerns over the objectives” of Jordan’s admission to the GCC,” the panel said in a statement.

"Therefore, we warn against the political and security backgrounds of this step which sparks suspicion that it could facilitate the process of normalization with the Zionist enemy, which has been an objective the United States sought to achieve for a long time through putting pressure on Arab countries, particularly the GCC states,” it added.

The committee, which comprises the Islamic Action Front (IAF) and six other Pan-Arab and left-leaning political parties, also cast doubt on the possibility of improving the living standard of the Jordanian people as a result of Jordan’s accession to the 30-year-old alliance.

GCC leaders, who met in Riyadh last week, welcomed the admission of the two pro-West Arab monarchies of Jordan and Morocco to the bloc and invited their foreign ministers to open talks with their counterparts in the GCC with a view to working out the details of the process.

If Jordan joins the GCC, it will be the only Arab state in the expanded entity that maintains official diplomatic ties with Israel.

Jordanian press and analysts have also warned that such a step could jeopardize the country’s fledgling political reform and involve security risks and possible enmity with Iran.

Jordan’s joining of the GCC is expected have figured largely in King Abdallah’s talks with US President Barack Obama at the White House Tuesday.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article410658.ece.