Posted on 10/16/2002 4:18:33 PM PDT by knighthawk
The Jordanian government has ordered the dissolution of trade-union affiliated agencies that oppose the normalization of ties with Israel.
The Kingdom’s Anti-Normalization Committee remains opposed to the peace treaty with Israel, which removed trade barriers between the neighboring nations in 1994.
According to Jordan’s Minister of State for Political Affairs Mohammad Adwan, the peace treaty signed between the Hashemite Kingdom and Israel is legally binding, therefore “any practice against national interest” will be halted.
Government officials claim that the Committee’s circulation of a list of company’s which they consider “normalizers” with Israel caused losses of millions of dinars from the national economy, having a negative impact on Jordanian businesses and the local workforce.
The Professional Associations Council, a union affiliated to the Anti-Normalization Committee, announced earlier this week that it would not withdraw its anti-Israel campaign in exchange for the release of three of its members previously detained for allegedly belonging to an illegal group.
Foreign investments into Israeli companies more than doubled to $5.5 billion after the signing of the free trade agree (FTA) between the two nations and investments into Jordan increased more than 14 times to $43 million in the first year following the signing of the pact.
In 2001, the approval for the construction a one million square-meter free-trade industrial zone at the border between Israel and Jordan, was given by Israel's National Planning and Building Council, launching the most ambitious bilateral private venture ever undertaken between the two countries.
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