His Majesty King Abdullah II Wednesday affirmed Jordan would never be an alternative homeland to anybody.
"The issue of the substitute country is being raised from time to time by different parties but Jordan will never be an alternative homeland to anybody," King Abdullah said before army officers from fourteen Arab countries taking part in a course organized by the Jordanian Royal National Defense College.
On confederation between Jordan and Palestine King Abdullah said " we can not talk about this subject, not until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and after the two peoples in Jordan and Palestine decide on their desire to form this confederation." If the Palestinians wants some sort of relationship with Jordan, then the issue will be discussed in due time, the King added.
Addressing the army officers at the Royal Court and in presence of HRH Prince Faisal Bin Al Hussein senior civilian and military officials, King Abdullah said the primary goal in Jordan is to develop economic and social situation and improve people's standard of living. " I have a vision to develop economic, political and social situations within the coming five or ten years," said the King noting that he has ordered the government to device a strategy for its action plan and for the role of the Prime Minister and every cabinet member, who in case he doesn't succeed within a certain period, will be held responsible for his failure.
Turning on to the freedom of the press, King Abdullah said there are no limits for freedom in Jordan provided that the agenda of the media is a national one. "We do not object to the media hunting for corruption, nepotism and favourism. On the contrary, this is something good but we are against using the media to harm Jordan's relations with Arab brothers, King Abdullah told his interlocutors. "Using the media to harm Jordan's relations with Arab states is something absolutely unacceptable," the King said. "We are ready to offer every support to the media but in return the journalists should join us in the middle of the road," the King added.
On the future of the Middle East peace process, King Abdullah said the situation on the ground is very difficult and our efforts focus on drumming up support to Palestinian brethren. "We work on providing support to the Palestinian government led by Ahmed Qurie because know when the Palestinian government is powerful it would be able to negotiate confidently and strongly," King Abdullah said.
In reply to a question on relations with Syria and what Jordan can do to support Syria in face of the current challenges, King Abdullah said" my relationship with President Bashar Al Assad is excellent and in all our meetings with the U.S. Congress we always stress that dialogue is the only way to settle problems because we believe that blockade will deepen problems rather that solving them." The Jordanian Royal National Defense College is a Jordanian scientific institution concerned with national security and it is a center of excellence and creative thinking for higher leadership. It basically aims to qualify national policy makers in areas of strategic planning and decision making.