Jordan, considered one of the Arab world's most moderate nations, is in an uproar because a legislator invited the Israeli ambassador to the Parliament this week.
Jordanian workers unions have demanded the resignation of a Jordanian senator for inviting Israeli ambassador Ya'akov Rosen to the Parliament, despite diplomatic relations between Israel and its neighbor.
The unions, which represent 100,000 workers, demanded that Parliament member Akel Biltaji quit after he met with the envoy outside the Parliament building. It was the first time an Israeli ambassador has been invited to the legislature.
The labor syndicates, which have banned normal relations with Israel, also have urged Senate Speaker Zaid Rifai to launch an investigation and "punish those responsible for facilitating such a meeting in Parliament."
They called the invitation "a provocative act towards the sentiments of the Jordanian people by a member of the Senate. If you insisted on holding this condemned meeting with a criminal enemy, you could have held it in your own house, not in the offices of the Assembly that belongs to the Jordanian people."
Biltaji, who is a former tourism minister and was a member of the peace delegation that concluded with establishing diplomatic relations with Israel in 1994, explained that Rosen came to participate in a seminar organized by the European Union on tourism.
The Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party, also denounced what it called "the Zionist penetration of the National Assembly."
Jordanian workers unions have demanded the resignation of a Jordanian senator for inviting Israeli ambassador Ya'akov Rosen to the Parliament, despite diplomatic relations between Israel and its neighbor.
The unions, which represent 100,000 workers, demanded that Parliament member Akel Biltaji quit after he met with the envoy outside the Parliament building. It was the first time an Israeli ambassador has been invited to the legislature.
The labor syndicates, which have banned normal relations with Israel, also have urged Senate Speaker Zaid Rifai to launch an investigation and "punish those responsible for facilitating such a meeting in Parliament."
They called the invitation "a provocative act towards the sentiments of the Jordanian people by a member of the Senate. If you insisted on holding this condemned meeting with a criminal enemy, you could have held it in your own house, not in the offices of the Assembly that belongs to the Jordanian people."
Biltaji, who is a former tourism minister and was a member of the peace delegation that concluded with establishing diplomatic relations with Israel in 1994, explained that Rosen came to participate in a seminar organized by the European Union on tourism.
The Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party, also denounced what it called "the Zionist penetration of the National Assembly."