By Khalid Amayreh

It is a good omen that the newly-appointed Prime Minister of Jordan, Mr. Awn Khasawna, has finally admitted publicly that the expulsion of Hamas leaders from Jordan in 1999 was wrong.

Khasawneh, a jurist of impeccable credentials, said deporting the Islamist Palestinian leaders, who were and are still Jordanian citizens, was a legal mistake.

His audacious observation portrays a man who wouldn't be silenced or intimidated by a police-state apparatus or a security machine that sees itself above the people.

Khasawneh probably couldn't have uttered what he said only a few months ago, especially prior to the outbreak of the Arab Spring against autocracies, despotism, and dynastic fiefdoms.

The fact that he has said what he said illustrates the tremendous psychological change hovering over the Arab world, including Jordan.

Indeed, the very appointment of a prime minister that is not automatically at the King's beck and call shows that the regime is beginning to consider and be sensitive to the feelings of the people, which is an auspicious sign.

Fortunately, the Hashemite regime in Jordan , despite its many excesses, is not a nefarious regime as indeed is the case with most other regimes in the region.

None the less, the Kingdom of Jordan still has a long way to go in terms of political reforms which would make the kingdom strong and immune to foreign pressure and interference.

We all know that Jordan is coveted and targeted by the apartheid state of Israel which is trying to advance the Zio-Nazi concept of expelling Palestinians to Jordan and turning the kingdom into an alternative homeland for the Palestinians.

Whether we admit it or not, Israel was, is and will always remain Jordan's existential enemy. This is the undeniable truth that every Jordanian man, woman and child must understand and internalize. Israel's lebensraum has a name; it is Jordan.

This is the truth that the Jordanian media as well as schools and colleges and other public institutions should spread because knowing one's enemy is the first step toward defeating that enemy.

For many years, the Israeli propaganda tried, occasionally successfully, to convince the Jordanian regime that Hamas and the Islamists in general were the regime's enemies.

Needless to say, this was a calculated mendacity aimed at sowing the seeds of suspicion and mistrust among brothers.

Unfortunately, some centers of power in Jordan took the virulent Zionist lie for granted, especially against Hamas, leading up to the erstwhile tragic chapter in the Palestinian-Jordanian relations.

We hope and pray that the unnecessary and illogical animosity toward Hamas in Amman will be a thing of the past. We also hope that the Jordanian authorities will take tangible measures to remedy and undo, even retrospectively, all the unjust measures taken against the Palestinian Islamist resistance movement.

In the final analysis, Hamas, as is the case with most if not all Palestinians on both banks of the River Jordan, will be willing and ready to sacrifice their own lives in defense of the Arab and Islamic identity of Jordan.

Yes we do love Jordan just as Jordanians do love Palestine. For Palestinians, Jordan is second amongst equals just as Palestine is second amongst equals for virtually all Jordanians. Jordan is our other lung. May the hand that betrays Jordan be severed.

Yes, of course, Jordan is a sovereign state whose sovereignty must be respected by friend and foe alike. However, no Arab or Muslim state ought to utilize the issue of sovereignty in order to encourage parochial territorial nationalism which manifestly contradicts the paramount spirit of Islam which encourages brotherhood, integration, unity and solidarity.

Yes, Palestine is a Jordanian issue. Can any honest Jordanian claim that the liberation of al-Masjidul Aqsa is none of Jordan's business?

Yes, one must always keep in mind that Israel has Nazi-like designs against Jordan, including morphing the country into " Palestine ." None the less, the Jordanian approach to thwarting these diabolic designs must take a comprehensive approach the constituents of which must necessarily include the consolidation of Jordanian-Palestinian unity.

Weakening or neglecting this unity, a sine-qua-non for the very survival of the Jordanian state, would only corrode the Jordanian ability to withstand and resist Israel's evil designs against Jordan .

Israel after all is an irredeemable criminal state that keeps drifting toward Talmudic Jewish fascism, an undeniable fact that poses a strategic threat to all its neighbors, including, first and foremost, Jordan.

It would be really naïve to think that one can pacify the proverbial ferocious crocodile by giving it a piece of meat. The wild creature will want more and more and more.

Finally, a word or two to the new Jordanian prime minister. You are a man of integrity and rectitude. You can make Jordan a model to be emulated in this turbulent part of the world, even without having to undergo through the tribulations that other countries in the region have been through.

Enable the Jordanians to enjoy basic human rights and civil liberties. Uphold the rule of the law and try to stem the tide of graft, corruption and nepotism. Above all, don't buy the sinister Zionist propaganda about the so-called Islamist danger. There is no such a thing as an Islamist danger facing Jordan. The vast bulk of Islamists would want to see a strong, stable and prosperous Jordan.

And, please, try your best to move Jordan away from the Israeli axis. There is absolutely nothing more endearing to the people of Jordan than degrading relations with Israel, an Israel that mendaciously claims to seek peace while building settlements on occupied Arab land.

Mr. Prime Minister: Does a country that keeps transferring hundreds of thousands of its citizens to live on land that belongs not to them really want peace?

I know well your answer. I just would like to see you act on it in terms of relations with Israel, the crime against humanity west of the river.

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By Khalid Amayreh Source: the Palestinian Information Center http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7fCeyU86Z%2f70MRJHppEdRditrJD5LBQfPy64Uakq3kzB7bft86l2kzA1RXM5x8bfdqem7l9q6HOsEdACc9ET5Da2kP4lFmX27fqvstN4%2f%2boY%3d