Arab consensus is solution to regional divisions — Tarawneh

AMMAN — Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh on Thursday stressed that reaching a consensus among Arabs has been widely agreed as the solution to the divisions threatening the region, but “nobody seems to take serious measures towards this solution”, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Heading the Jordanian parliamentary delegation to the 27th conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union in Cairo, Tarawneh warned of the divisions threatening the region amid several talks of deals that may shatter the hopes of Arabs who have long waited for peace and security.

He pointed out that Jordan seeks to unify the Arab stances hoping that it would lead to realising the Palestinians’ aspirations of an independent state and stressing that “denying the Palestinians their rights” would feed the spirit of “vengeance and extremism”.

Tarawneh also stressed the international community’s duty towards refugees and the importance of dealing with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where most people live off the aid provided by UNRWA.

On the Syrian crisis, he expressed concern that the current clashes would send the situation in the war-torn country “back to square one”, stressing Jordan’s stance which calls for finding a political solution through an inter-Syrian dialogue with no external interference.

The speaker highlighted the huge burden put on Jordan by the consecutive refugee crises, noting that it weakened its economic growth. He stressed that providing support to Jordan is neither a gift nor a favour, but a moral obligation.

The conference witnessed the participation of delegates from Jordan Bahrain, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iraq, Oman, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen, according to Petra.