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Society + Culture,  Jordan Between Hamas and Abbas:Aids and advices
Amman – MWN News by SALEH ZAITOON*
 Jordan stressed the importance of the international community's support to the Palestinian people to overcome the current difficult circumstances especially that the Palestinians are suffering from a high ratio of poverty and unemployment.
Upon receiving the special envoy of the Quartet Committee Jim Wolfensohn, King Abdullah II said that Jordan will continue exerting every possible effort to ensure the continuation of aid flow to the Palestinians.
The King also expressed thanks and appreciation for Wolfensohn over his efforts that aim at alleviating the hard economic situation in the Palestinian territories.
He said it was "imperative that the world community would continue to provide assistance needed by the Palestinian people, specifically in view of their dire economic conditions." "The world community must not abandon the Palestinian people at a time when they suffer from high rates of poverty and unemployment," he added, according to a palace statement carried by the official Petra news agency. For his part, Wolfensohn valued efforts of the King in establishing peace and stability in the region and supporting the Palestinians.
King Abdullah will meet the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Capetown on Friday while both of them hosted by South Africa's President.
Earliar the two leaders met in the arab summit in Khartoum and a Palestinian sourse told MWN News that the Jordanian king advice Abbas to do his best with Hamas to convince their leadership to cooperate with international community to ease the difficulties in the palestinian political and the humanitarian situation.
King Abdullah had earlier issued directives last week to send an urgent aid convoy to the Palestinian lands. The Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation(JHCO) dispatched a 27-truck convoy loaded with 400 tonnes of essential food supplies to the Palestinians, who are suffering from a severe shortage of staples.
JHCO Secretary General Abdul Salam Abbadi said the organisation would continue its support for the Palestinians, in implementation of His Majesty King Abdullah's directives. According to Abbadi, the organisation yesterday dispatched a 27-truck convoy loaded with 400 tonnes of essential food supplies, which is the first batch of a programme to help the Palestinians. Abbadi said over the past few years 200 convoys were sent to the Palestinian territories, consisting of more than 1,100 trucks loaded with some 17,000 tonnes of essential food supplies, drugs and electric appliances. In addition, the aid, worth more than $30 million, included more than 30 fully-equipped ambulances, Abbadi said. He noted that the organisation still receives donations and aid from inside and outside the Kingdom.
Meanwhile a survey conducted by the University of Jordan's Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS) on what a Hamas-led government should do to solve the Palestinian issue; 57 per cent of public opinion leaders as well as 37 per cent of a national sample of the general public said the Hamas government should engage directly in negotiations with Israel. The poll revealed thathe Jordanian majority believe a Hamas-led government should negotiate directly with Israel.
Only 20 per cent of the opinion leaders sample and 18 per cent of the national sample said the Palestinian government should focus on everyday issues and leave negotiations to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. And 13 per cent of the general public said there should be no negotiations of any kind with Israel. The poll was carried out between March 9-13 over the two samples: The national sample of 984 respondents and the public opinion leaders comprising 641 respondents. It sought to ascertain public opinion on the reasons behind Hamas' victory in the January elections and on future relations between the Jordanian government and a Hamas-led government. It also attempted to determine if citizens expect the Islamic group to recognise Israel's right to exist. Hamas is the main Islamist movement in the Palestinian territories and was established soon after the first Intifada in 1987. The organisation, which swept the Palestinian parliamentary elections and controls an absolute majority in the legislature opposes the Oslo peace process, and its short-term aim is a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories. Asked whether Hamas will eventually recognise Israel, 68. 6 per cent of opinion leaders sampled in the CSS poll said it would, while 46 per cent of the national sample said it would not. In attributing reasons for the Hamas victory, 38 per cent of opinion leaders said the group won “because of Palestinian Authority's corruption and its failure at governance.” Twenty-one per cent of the national sample attributed Hamas' win to its competence and organisational abilities as well as its dedication, credibility and popularity. Only 10 per cent said it was because of “the corrupt PA" A negligible percentage of Jordanians (11.9 per cent of opinion leaders and 5 per cent of the national sample) believed the Hamas victory was related to the failed peace process. An overwhelming majority of citizens said Amman's ties with the Hamas-led government would be good. A total of 73.4 per cent of the national sample and 84.4 per cent of opinion leaders said relations between the two governments would be very good or good, while only 7.8 per cent of the national sample and 7.5 per cent of opinion leaders said it would be very bad or bad.
On the other hand Hamas' new cabinet ministers started moving into their offices Thursday, as Western nations began following through on their threats to cut off aid to the Palestinian government if the militant group does not moderate. Hamas, which won a majority of parliament seats in the January 25 elections, has refused to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. The United States and European Union list Hamas as a terror group. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas swore in the 24-member cabinet on Wednesday night in a dual ceremony in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Ramallah that was connected by a video hookup. Many of the Hamas ministers are not allowed to travel between the two territories because of an Israeli travel ban. On Thursday, Said Siyam took over the powerful Interior Ministry from Nasser Yousef, an Abbas ally. The ministry controls many of the Palestinian security forces, though some were transferred to the office of Abbas, a moderate from the Fatah Party who was elected separately last year. "We've had elections and we are committed to the results," Yousef said after he turned his office over to Siyam. "This is a peaceful handover of power." Hamas' assumption of power could cause an immediate financial crisis for the Palestinian Authority, which is deeply dependent on foreign aid. Israel has already stopped transferring tens of millions of dollars a month in taxes that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian government, and Western countries said they would freeze aid to the government while looking for other ways to get aid to the Palestinian people. Immediately after the new cabinet was sworn in Wednesday, Canada announced it was cutting off its donations to the Palestinian Authority. The United States said it was in the midst of a wide review of its Palestinian aid programs and would decide soon what programs to freeze. "The principle is very clear. We're not going to fund a Hamas-led government," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday. "But we are going to look at what we can do to increase humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people and what mechanisms we can use to do that, to make certain that the money is not indeed supporting the Hamas-led government." Rice, who spoke on her way to Germany for talks on Iran, said she expected to talk about Palestinian funding with France, Germany and Britain during her trip. "We've been very much on the same page," that Hamas must renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by previous Palestinian commitments "so that the world can support it," she said. The Palestinian Authority gets a large part of its approximately $1.9 billion annual budget from overseas sources and it may run into immediate difficulties next week when March salaries are to be paid for some 140,000 government employees. Arab countries said they would help close the gap by providing $55 million a month to the Palestinian Authority, however they have rarely met their previous pledges of assistance. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said the Cabinet would decide on additional sanctions against the Palestinian Authority next week, beyond suspending the tax transfers. "With Hamas taking over now, you can't have business as usual," said Mark Regev. *SALEH ZAITOON is the middle east bureau chief of MWN News and he is working as CEO of Arab Business Channel transmitted via Nilesat from Cairo.
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