Jordan’s tribes criticise queen’s role

AMMAN, (Reuters) – Jordanian tribal figures have  issued a petition urging King Abdullah to end his Palestinian  wife’s role in politics, in a new challenge to the monarch  grappling with fallout from uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

Evoking comparisons with the wives of Tunisia’s former  strongman Zine al Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt’s President Hosni  Mubarak, the signatories attacked Queen Rania’s Palestinian  origin and accused her of using state funds to promote her image  abroad without concern for the hardship of ordinary Jordanians.

The 36 figures are drawn from conservative East Bank tribes  who form the backbone of the Hashemite monarchy’s support — as  opposed to Jordanians of Palestinian, or West Bank, origin who  are the majority of the country’s 7 million population.

“She is building power centres for her interest that go  against what Jordanians and Hashemites have agreed on in  governing and is a danger to the nation and the structure of the  state and the political structure and the institution of the  throne,” the petition said.

“Disregard for the content of the statement will throw us  into what happened in Tunis and Egypt and what will happen in  other Arab countries,” it added.

The unusually blunt statement reflects the deep rift between  nationalist East Bank Jordanians and the majority Palestinian  population, rather than a direct challenge to Abdullah’s rule.

But it keeps up pressure on the monarch who responded to  anti-government protests last week by dismissing the cabinet and  appointing former army officer Marouf Bakhit as prime minister.

The move, which followed a $500 million package of state aid  to raise civil service salaries and curb price rises, aimed to  address East Bankers’ alarm over economic liberalisation by the  previous government which threatened their state benefits.

Publicly attacking royal figures is taboo in Jordan under  tough sedition or lese majeste rules that limit discussion of  Jordan’s royal family.   But the signatories, drawn from within the ruling  hierarchy’s chief tribal groups such as the Bani Sakhr, Abadi,  Shobaki and Manaseer, said their concern for the country and  throne had prompted them to speak out.

The signatories said the legitimacy of Jordan’s Hashemite  monarchy, which claims descent from Islam’s Prophet Mohammad,  depended on the consent of the East Bank tribes.  Mindful of the status of the monarch, Faris al-Fayez, who  helped draft the petition, told Reuters the statement emphasised  that aside from the monarch there should be no “legal immunity  for any corrupt person regardless of his title.”