Abu-Odeh: History Cannot Be Judged by Today's Standards

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21 Mar 2019

Amman – In a lecture at the Jordan Media Institute (JMI) entitled "Jordanian Foreign Policy and the Palestinian Cause", former chief of the Royal Hashemite Court of Jordan and former minister of Information, Adnan Abu-Odeh, said that any decision made by any official is relevant to the circumstances of the time when that decision was mad and cannot be judged by today's scale.

"We cannot judge those decisions by what we know today, but we have to see and examine the circumstances that led to that decision at the time during which it was taken," Abu-Odeh added.

He talked about the Jordanian-Palestinian relation since the British colonization, pointing out that Jordan's foreign policy has always revolved around the Palestinian issue since the emergence of the Kingdom up until today.

Abu-Odeh spoke of the exceptional ties that bound the people of Jordan and Palestine as well as to the Kingdom’s unwavering stand with the Palestinian cause against the Israeli occupation in its attempts to evacuate the Palestinians out of their lands towards Jordan.

On the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, Abu-Odeh stressed that "circumstances during the Palestinian Intifada have led to such a decision," which after more than 30 years, current events have proven that the decision was right.

Abu Oudeh referred to the exceptional personality of His Majesty late King Al-Hussein, his intellects, humane conscience, vision and unique characteristics including his wisdom, understanding and patience, his respect for others, tolerance, and his ability to read into events – something that made the Gulf name him as “the wise”.

Abu Odeh also talked about the benefits of foreign policies, their objectives and maintenance, as they can always achieve the best results at the lowest costs in order to reach the interest of its county and accordingly benefit its citizens.

Towards the end of the lecture, which was conducted by Dr. Abdul Hakim al-Husban, an open discussion took place between JMI students and the guest, in which Abu Odeh spoke about his own professional experience, his political career and about Jordan's stand as a cornerstone of stability within the region and as an official representative of moderation.

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