Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood condemns Obama visit

Brotherhood members claim Obama is ‘biased’ against the Arab world The Shura Council of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood has condemned a visit by US President Barack Obama ahead of his arrival in Amman on Friday, claiming the American leader has no intention of bringing change to the Arab world. The US presidential aircraft touched down in Jordan’s Queen Alia Airport near Amman at 1445 hrs GMT where he was welcomed by Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and other top offfcials.
Obama’s arrival in Jordan marks the final stop on his whistle-stop tour of the Middle East which hhas seen him make significant speeches in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
But some say the president is not welcome.
Speaking during a session on Thursday, Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council members stressed Obama’s visit had proved his country’s “bias” against Arab states, particularly on the Palestinian issue.
Protests leading up to the president’s whirlwind tour of the Middle East saw US flags burned in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Following a three-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, his first as president, Obama was to fly to Amman for talks and a private dinner with King Abdullah II, after wrapping up his trip to the Holy Land with a visit to Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
But an unexpected sandstorm forced the president to travel by motorcade rather than helicopter, giving Obama an unscheduled experience of Israel's towering security barrier which loops around the not-so-little West Bank town where Christians believe Jesus was born.
While the thrust of his Israel trip was reassurance that the United States would mount an "eternal" defence of the Jewish state in the face of the Iranian nuclear threat, Obama will on Friday turn to the agony of Syria's civil war in Jordan.
Jordan is sheltering nearly 436,000 Syrian refugees, a figure expected to rise to 700,000 by the end of this year, as people fleeing vicious sectarian fighting between Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebel groups spill over its borders.
Obama has resisted pouring US arms or ammunition into the conflict, which the UN estimates has taken at least 70,000 lives, but has offered logistical support to rebels and hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid.
He will also support political reform efforts inside Jordan, which has been an oasis of relative calm in a region swept by turmoil in the wake of the Arab Spring.
A senior US official said Obama wanted to coordinate with the king on security challenges and on helping Jordan alleviate the refugee crisis.
"We're providing a lot of assistance to support Jordan and international organisations that are supporting the refugee population inside of Jordan," he said.
"We're also working very closely with the Jordanian government as part of the coalition of countries that is supporting the Syrian opposition to pressure the regime, to build up the opposition, and try to bring about a new Syria."
Jordanian Brotherhood leaders have meanwhile attacked the Jordanian monarch for “creating resentment” within the country’s population at home.
Recent increases in fuel and electricity prices, endemic corruption and Abdullah’s recent controversial statements to the press had angered ordinary Jordanians, Muslim Brotherhood leaders claimed.
On Friday morning, Obama visited the grave of Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, then paid his respects at the grave of murdered Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin, where he placed a stone from the grounds of Washington's Martin Luther King memorial.
He also toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, saying it showed "the barbarism that unfolds when we begin to see our fellow human beings as somehow less than us."
After a brief meeting with Netanyahu, Obama set off for Bethlehem, travelling by motorcade, not helicopter, after a sudden sandstorm swept the city.
The last-minute change of plan gave Obama an unscheduled experience of the eight-metre-tall wall which loops around the West Bank city.
As the huge motorcade wound through the steep, narrow streets, crowds of onlookers watched in silence, with no sign of the enthusiasm which usually greets the convoy. Some held up signs of protest reading: "No return no peace."
Inside the cavernous, darkened interior of the church, he was briefly shown around by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and church officials before leaving for the airport.
Obama will conclude his hotly anticipated whirlwind Middle East tour in Jordan on Saturday.