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Iranian Parliament Member In Jordan Condemns Israel
by Tareq Ayyoub
AMMAN (IslamOnline) - King Abdullah on Sunday met with Iran's Shura Council Speaker, Mahdi Kharoubi, and reviewed with him bilateral relations between the two countries.
Kharoubi's visit is the first by the Speaker of Iran's parliament to Jordan since a break in relations between the two countries following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Abdullah is expected to visit Iran next month, the first by a Jordanian monarch in 20 years.
Last year, Abdullah met with President Mohammad Khatami in New York on the fringes of the Millennium meeting of the United Nations.
Kharoubi, who also met with the Jordanian Speaker of the Lower House, Abdulah Hadi Majali, said that Iran is willing to boost cultural, political and economic relations between Tehran and Amman.
The Iranian official, speaking at a special meeting of the Lower House, added that parliamentarians in the two countries should take part in all efforts to enhance relations between the two countries.
"There is a well and desire by the two sides to move the relationship forward and the two countries have undertaken many steps in that direction," Kharoubi told Jordanian Parliamentarians.
"We hope that agreements that have been signed by the two sides will be implemented by the two sides," the Iranian official added.
Jordan's relationship with Iran has increasingly developed since the resumption of ties in the early 1990s. Diplomatic relationships were severed in the 1980s after the start of the Iran-Iraq war, where Tehran accused Amman of siding with Baghdad during the eight-year war.
Following the resumption of ties, the two sides undertook several measures to boost relations, especially in the field of trade.
Last October, Iran's Industry Minister, Gholam Shafi'e, led an Iranian delegation to meetings of the Jordan-Iran Higher Committee held in Amman.
During his visit, the two sides signed several agreements and reiterated Iran's desire to partially finance the badly-needed Desi Water Project, which will offer Jordan an additional 100 million cubic meters of water through a pipeline from the Desi aquifer in Jordan's southern region to the capital.
Iran's proposal included supplying Jordan with the needed pipes in exchange for Jordanian potash and phosphate.
Observers believe that Iran's proposal is "more serious" than a Libyan offer, repeatedly pledged by Libyan Leader Mouamar Ghadafi, but has yet to produce any substantive action on the matter.
Kharoubi, who will also meet with Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb during his two-day visit, said that no peace could be achieved in the region before "ending Israeli occupation to Palestinian territories and the return of millions of Palestinian refugees to the British-mandate Palestine."
"Rights of return [to Palestine] and self-determination are very important to comprehensive peace. Palestinians also [have] the right to establish their homeland with Jerusalem as its capital," Kharoubi said to Jordan's Lower House members.
The "Muslim World should play a role in the efforts to liberate Palestine," he added, saying that "[Muslims] can not abandon even a small piece of land in Jerusalem and any part of Palestine."
"Iran does not believe that unilateral agreements [with Israel] can bring peace or ensure the stability and security in the region," Kharoubi told Jordanian lawmakers.
He was referring to peace agreements the Palestine Liberation Organization had signed with Israel in the past seven years.
Iran has opposed any peace deal with Israel and has called for the annihilation of the state.
The Iranian official said that Muslim parliamentarians should spare no effort in international meetings of parliaments to defend the rights of Palestinians.
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