“This
strange attitude represents an encroachment on internal law and conventions as
well as a flagrant aggression on the sovereignty and independence of Jordan, a
member of the United Nations,” said the Committee’s Chairman, Marouf Bakheet, in
a statement carried by the official Petra news agency.
Geert
Wilders, who leads Holland’s extremist Party for Freedom (PVV), said last week
that he believed Jordan should be renamed Palestine. “Jordan is Palestine,” he
said.
“Changing
its name to Palestine will end the conflict in the Middle East and provide
the Palestinians with an alternate homeland,” said Wilders, an anti-Muslim
activist whose party almost trebled its seats in the Dutch Parliament in the
latest polls.
Wilders
went further to warn against giving East Jerusalem back to the Arabs. “If
Jerusalem falls into the hands of the Muslims, Athens and Rome will be next,”
he said.
His
remarks drew sharp reactions in the Arab and Muslim worlds, foremost Jordan,
where he appeared to have adopted an extremist Israeli scheme, which seeks to
establish homeland for Palestinians in the Hashemite Kingdom.
“Such
remarks will neither help the distinguished ties between Jordan and Holland nor
thwart Jordan from going ahead with its support to the Palestinian brethren to
enable them regain their full rights, including the setting up of an
independent state with Jerusalem as its capital,” said Bakhit, a former prime
minister.
He also warned that such statements “will contribute to the derailment
of efforts under way to re-establish peace in the region.”
The Jordanian government has also issued a statement condemning Wilders’
statement.
