Apr
21
Written by:
Dr. Ernie Moore
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Handling a tight wire act is no easy thing, as King Abdullah II, of Jordan well knows. His nation is around 70% Palestinian, virtually all Muslim, and tiptoeing around the Arab Spring-mentality.
The King has made a lot of publicity moves to pacify the people, but it now looks like embracing the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party won’t be one of them.
It’s one thing to make remarks against Israel to gin up support. It’s quite another to allow the very people who want you out of the palace for another.
After watching the intense Muslims topple one Arab government after another, it is no secret that the Brotherhood isn’t interested in democracy so much as using even a watered down version of it to gain power.
The Generals in Egypt know it. And King Abdullah knows it. Now the Jordanian parliament is acting. Rest assured they have the King behind them.
Read on:
Jordanian parliament moves to ban Muslim Brotherhood party
In a Lower House session, Jordanian lawmakers voted to add an item to the country's draft political parties law forbidding the establishment of any political party on a 'religious basis.'
Jordan's parliament took legal measures on Monday to disqualify the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, the country's largest opposition movement.
In a Lower House session, 46 out of 83 Jordanian lawmakers voted to add an item in the country's draft political parties law forbidding the establishment of any political party on a "religious basis."
The measure would disqualify the Islamic Action Front - the political branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and the country's largest political party - from taking part in upcoming parliamentary elections.
Islamists claim the amendment comes as "retaliation" for the Muslim Brotherhood's opposition to a proposed elections law observers say ensures the continued dominance of tribal regime loyalists over the legislative chamber.
"This is only the latest in a series of measures by deputies to limit the influence of political parties and any dissenting views in parliament and political life in general," Zaki Bani Rsheid, head of the IAF's politibureau, told DPA.
"We believe all Jordanian citizens - not only Islamists - should have the right to form a political party without conditions," he added.
Bani Rsheid vowed that Islamists would fight the legislation, which lawmakers are expected to approve on Tuesday, "with all legal and political means available."
The country's political parties law, which along with the elections law has been highlighted by Jordan's King Abdullah II as key to the country's reform process, also bans the establishment of parties on an "ethnic or sectarian basis."