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.