On May 16, a three-judge tribunal, one military judge presiding over two civilian judges, sentenced Faisal to 18 months in prison for. In its verdict, the State Security Court cited Ms. In August , the government said that it needed time to adapt to several changes in electoral procedures made that year. Given the continued violence between Israelis and Palestinians and Jordanian fears of an American strike against Iraq after September 11, proceeding with the elections in late probably would have led to an increase in the number of seats controlled by the opposition parties, making it more difficult for the regime to pursue cooperation with the U.
According to one Jordanian analyst,.
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On August 16, , King Abdullah made a televised address informing the country that the elections would be delayed until the spring of We last year deemed appropriate to postpone parliamentary elections until a modern elections law is finalized and the necessary arrangements are in place to conduct elections. When this was concluded, we found that the difficult regional circumstances dictated that we postpone these elections, if only for a while, although we sincerely wished for different circumstances that would enable us to conduct elections on time.
But our wish for these elections to be free and fair, and unaffected by regional influences and circumstances, left us no choice but to postpone them. During September , Jordanian citizens began to see posters and billboards of a Jordanian flag being held aloft by the hands of Jordanians from various backgrounds with the Arabic slogan al-Urdun Awalan Jordan First written at the top. This picture was the symbol of a new government campaign designed to encourage Jordanians to focus more on domestic considerations such as education, socioeco nomic development, combating political corruption, and participation in the national political process.
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The first hint of this campaign was seen in the same August 16 royal address, in which the king postponed the parliamentary elections for the second time. In his speech it is possible to see what would later become the core of the Jordan First campaign: I have told you when I was honored with shouldering the responsibility, that I have dedicated myself to your service, to achieve your noble aspirations in continuing to build the modern Jordanian state which would provide a free and decent life for every citizen living on its soil and belonging to it.
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We all belong to Jordan and work to build it, regardless of differences in opinions or positions. This letter called for the creation of a national committee responsible for generating the means to convey and implement the ideas behind the Jordan First campaign.
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In an effort to marginalize the associations and their political agenda, the Abu al-Ragheb government has consistently called upon the associations to focus more on their professions and less on politics. Since the introduction of the Political Parties Law, both loyalist and opposition parties had complained about the absence of an independent judicial body expressly responsible for resolving constitutional disputes between the government and civil society. This recommendation was a specific response to such criticism and designed to motivate the parties to play a more significant role in the upcoming elections.
The most controversial recommendation by the committee was its call for a parliamentary quota for women. Proponents of the measure argued that, of the 32 female candidates who have sought national political office since , only one, Toujan Faisal, has succeeded. Advocates for the measure said that a quota was the most effective way to give Jordanian women an equal opportunity to win political office. Opponents, both male and female, argued that a quota would stigmatize the women who win such seats, marginalizing them politically. The king and his advisers seem to have been gambling that a decisive American military victory against Iraq in early and the unveiling of the Roadmap to peace following this victory would present a prime opportunity to isolate the parliamentary election campaign from destabilizing external events that might help the opposition win more seats in parliament.
In anticipation of these coming events, the Jordan First strategy was designed to ensure that the parliamentary campaign would focus only on domestic issues and avoid discussion of the types of regional events that would help the political opposition. In short, debates about regional issues that could help the political opposition win seats are, according to the concept of Jordan First, inconsistent with the national interest.
In response to critics who said that Jordan First called for a wholesale abandonment of pan-Arab causes, the king and government officials countered that the best way to support the Palestinians and Iraq was to build a strong Jordan by focusing on the economy and making Jordanian citizens more productive through educational reform.
The concept of Jordan First established a new foundation for the practice of Jordanian national politics. According to the doctrine, the ideal citizen, candidate, member of parliament and civil organization makes national concerns, as defined by the government and the regime, rather than regional concerns the top priority. While the Jordan First strategy is clearly a response to the indirect threats posed by regional events over which the regime has no control, it is primarily a strategy for overcoming the obstacles posed by domestic groups opposed to the policies that the regime has deemed essential to its security and survival.
In brief, these policies are the maintenance of normal ties with Israel, alignment with U. By pursuing these policies, King Abdullah hopes to secure what he has deemed essential to the survival of his regime and his kingdom: While the Hashemite regime has faced considerable opposition from groups and individuals opposed to normalization and U. The conflict was set in motion following the attempted arrest of Muhammad Chalabi, an Islamic activist who organized a rally in support of Osama bin Laden during the Afghanistan campaign, near Maan on October 29 following the assassination of American diplomat Laurence Foley on October Chalabi was attempting to take his wife to a hospital in Amman when he was stopped by police at a roadblock for driving without a license plate.
According to Maan governor Muhammad Breikat, Mr. Chalabi then shot at the police and fled. Chalabi was apprehended following another shootout with police in which he was injured in the shoulder. Chalabi was then taken to a Maan hospital, where several gunmen freed him from police custody. In its negotiations with these tribal leaders, the government denied that Chalabi was a suspect in the Foley assassination, saying that he was only wanted for questioning regarding a January attack on a police station in Maan.
Chalabi and other men wanted for arms smuggling. Chalabi and four other armed men were seeking to escape from the city. However, completely absent from media reports and official statements is an explanation as to why it was so important to apprehend Chalabi and his followers in late October Moreover, during an official tour of the city on November 15, Jordanian police consistently prevented foreign journalists from interviewing residents of the city.
Nayrukh categorically rejected the offer. Moreover, they noted that nowhere in the Professional Associations Law are such political committees forbidden. Two days later, on November 30, the government appointed a committee to administer the Jordan Engineers Association until new elections could be arranged. Regrettably, the fact that these parties have failed in advocating their programmes and have become isolated from the issues of real concern to people has made them survive on crises and hide behind national unity slogans waiting for the first occasion to stir sedition [emphasis added] among the people in order to implement the agendas of external forces.
One day before the beginning of the war, the government amended the restrictive Press and Publications Law to allow for speedier prosecution of journalists who commit publication crimes. Now that what we have been warning about and working to prevent has occurred, our prime obligation is to preserve the security and stability of our homeland and protect its top interests. This demands, before anything else, to solidify our internal front, protect our national unity. Let us all be one hand, one family, one heart, and let us work in the spirit of one team in order to preserve our security and stability, our internal front and to deal with what accompanies such circumstances from rumors and fallacious or inaccurate news in a sense of awareness and responsibility.
In short, citizens from all walks of life needed to join together in national unity, behave responsibly, and ignore any news reports deemed fallacious or inaccurate by the government. The regime responded quickly to this unusual show of defiance. In response to a question regarding the petition, the king said,. I am a Muslim, an Arab, and a Hashemite. No one can outbid my concern for my people and nation. I would like to assure my people that the principles that we have been raised on have never changed and will never change. No country has supported Iraq like Jordan.
In addition, former parliamentary deputies and tribal leaders signed and submitted a petition publicly stating their support for the king. This transfer increased the total amount of U. The May 13 ceremony also saw the ratification of a bilateral investment treaty that would facilitate greater American investment in Jordan as well as the public announcement that Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were providing Jordan with oil free of charge until July According to Sheyyab, even Islamist candidates were relying on this campaign strategy, particularly in smaller towns, where the appeal of tribalism is stronger than in the larger cities.
The more ideological Islamic Action Front, which focused its efforts primarily on winning seats in the larger cities, won only 18 of the 29 seats it contested. Independent Islamists won 6 seats, giving the religious opposition a significant percentage of the total seats — 22 percent — but only a politically marginal presence in the Parliament.
In contrast, tribal and pro-government figures won a total of 62 seats for a percent majority in the seat Chamber of Deputies. Mobilization of this base has helped ensure loyalist majorities in every Lower House election since Leadership in the Middle East. Transforming a Dysfunctional Nuclear State. The Battle for Saudi Arabia. A History of Modern Palestine.
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