*Adnan Abu Odeh's lengthy interview with Ad Dustour daily, published earlier this month, is a departure from the on the record, for the record, official line sort of interviews Jordanians are used to. The man is many things to many people; Mukhabarat officer, minister of information and government spokesman during the 1970 events, a senior Palace aide rising to the rank of Chief of the Royal Court, policy maker behind the scenes and finally a diplomat at the UN.
Never a popular figure in Jordanian politics, Abu Odeh, now semi-retired from politics, looks back and attempts to explain, as much as understand, how things ended the way they did. He is bitter about the so-called Jordanian regionalists, the ultra-right nationalists, who never accepted him as a true Jordanian. In the process of his long and controversial career, he also managed to alienate many Palestinians. "I used to call myself Jordanian," he told interviewer Khairi Mansour. "Now I call myself Jordanian of a Palestinian origin." Naturally he is critical of those who staged his overthrow and doubted his loyalty. His tears over his mother's grave in Nablus few months back were given political connotations. He resented that very much. Such political connotations could be made if he had wept at the grave of Lenin or Gamal Abdel Nasser, he said. But not that of his own mother.
There is no doubt that Abu Odeh was once a prominent figure in the Jordanian political machinery. Could he make a comeback? Very likely some say. Until recently he was working hard to set up and lead his own political party on a centrist, liberal as he likes to call it, platform. But today's political parties are mostly patriarchal, a modern version of the tribe: the chief and his followers. Where would Abu Odeh fit, and where would he find a loyal following to make a comeback?
* Who really won the race for the speakership of the Lower House of Parliament? Incumbent speaker Saad Hayel Sroor held his breath as the counting began Tuesday afternoon. His opponent, IAF candidate, Dr Ibrahim Zeid Al Kilani was not easily defeated. He got 29 votes, representing growing discontent with the government-backed Sroor, who received 46 votes.
In inter-parliamentary politics the issue is not simply one of who won and who lost. Mr Sroor now knows that he faces a tough final session, very much like the last one, which ended in the King dissolving the extraordinary session when matters got out of control. For the time being one can say that the opposition has grown from 23 deputies to 29. But that is a loose formula. Those who voted for Kilani from outside the opposition camp were actually sending a signal to the government.
At any rate the final session of this 12th Jordanian Parliament will likely prove to be an interesting one. Next year is an election year and with talk about amending the election law, parties' appetites are already wet. The IAF is in the heart of the lobbying game, trying to force its own agenda. Its leadership must have known that its candidate never stood a chance, but it put up a fight nonetheless. It may have lost a battle but not the war. It is testing the waters, trying to gauge public mood, hitting and running. The political map is changing.
Prime Minister Kabariti, who few weeks ago looked very vulnerable, appears to be back in control. But he will not have an easy ride in Parliament-the IAF and its allies will make sure he won't. So far it is business as usual under the dome. It's been a tough year on everybody and next year is just around the corner promising new beginnings for everyone; the deputies, the government and the public.
* The London based Al Quds Al Arabi daily newspaper is not a newcomer on the pan-Arab news gathering and news dissemination scene. But that does not make it infallible. Last week it ran a news piece on its front page about "Arab and Jewish electronic publications which specialize in normalization on the Internet." Surprisingly, to us, The Star topped the list as the most famous of electronic papers calling for the establishment of joint economic ventures with Israel. Predictably, Al Quds Al Arabi did not bother to back its claims with proof.
Some eager beaver at the London office surfed the net and rounded up titles from different web sites and branded them as pro-normalization electronic editions. He even named our sister publication, Economic Perspectives newsletter, defunct for well over a year, as a magazine that specializes in covering commercial dealings with Israel. The Star was named again as one of the major papers on the world wide web that covers daily news of the peace process. The editor failed to note that The Star is a weekly newspaper that does not cover news.
To set the record straight, The Star was the first English-language weekly in the Middle East to launch an electronic edition back in November 1995. It has never linked its site to any other publication, whether Arab or non-Arab and our electronic edition is the same as our print one. As to specializing in promoting normalization with Israel, The Star editorials remain critical of Israeli policies, sceptical of its intentions towards the Palestinians, doubtful of the fertility of the Jordan-Israel peace treaty and its ability to bear any of the promised economic fruits. Since its inception in 1990, The Star continued to abide by its editorial line as an independent and responsible publication speaking its mind, and that of many Jordanians, on many issues, including normalization. It remains an active forum for representatives of all shades of the political spectrum, not least of which the Jordanian opposition and the anti-normalization front.
In the chaos that has taken over the Arab media scene in recent years, it is not surprising to see opportunists being responsible for poor quality journalism which has become the norm rather than the exception. We would have liked Al Quds Al Arabi to maintain an ethical stand of objectivity, integrity and self-respect. But we were disappointed.
* Jordanians love mysteries and they like to keep guessing. The guessing game now involves President of the Engineers Association Laith Shbeilat, who was recently pardoned by the King and released from prison. It was the second time that the King intervened to let Mr Shbeilat out of the can. The first time that happened, Mr Shbeilat was facing the gallows. He announced that he was quitting politics-he was a deputy for Amman-but few months later became active again, turning into a fierce critic of the Jordan-Israel peace treaty.
He was arrested and put on trial for slandering the Royal Family and sentenced to three years in prison. From his cell he fought for and won the presidency of the Engineers Association. Now that he is a free man people are wondering if Mr Shbeilat will make a fresh foray into the political arena. While legal experts debate his eligibility to run for public office, the bearded independent Islamist is not making his intentions known. For a man who never stopped talking, his unusual silence is keeping us all guessing.