Amman - Osama Arrantissi
Jordanian Prince Hassan Bin Talal
Jordanian Prince Hassan Bin Talal has appeared on television for the first time in 11 years on US television show \"60 Minutes\". Prince Hassan, who has served as the Crown Prince of Jordan for almost 35 years
praised the policies of Jordan\'s King Abdullah II. He said the Hashemite family \"help out the needy wherever the are\" and that Jordan respected human rights.
The prince also expressed his disapproval for the proverb “Too much cheering brings dirty hosts”. The prince also criticised the recent Jordanian protests saying to the Al-Nakhil yard demonstrators: “If I reached Al-Nakhil yard, I would have destroyed you all”.
He added: \"When 20 or 30 youth meet and speak on behalf of people, I would ask \'Who asked you to do so?\'\"
\"Today we speak of the education problem, and I say in this regard that the unemployed among educated people is 25 per cent, which is higher than the unemployed illterate, which is at 9 per cent. Illiteracy is not a defect, but the illiteracy of those who are educated is the real drawback.\"
The Prince attacked the Jordanian media saying it lacked knowledge. He also criticised the BBC for its approach on the issue of the Jordanian Islamic cleric Abu Qatada.
He explained that Arab Spring came about for obvious reasons, among which was the population growth, saying the population in the Arab world today was equivalent to the whole of Europe. \"However, you cannot find such problems in Europe as social security, population growth, nor production major issues,\" he said.
He continued: “We got confused with today\'s terminologies such as the state, the system, the authority, the government…etc. so we have to be clear with one another, as what\'s most important to all of us is our homeland.\"
Prince Hassan also was against Iran’s manner in supporting Jerusalem and the Islamic holy sites there saying that Jerusalem was in need of plans, not festivals.
As for the future, Prince said he was optimistic: \"As long as we are determined, through work we will overcome many challenges.\"