King Abdullah II chooses reformation, Brotherhood chooses chaos

Accepting the resignation of Awn al-Khasawneh's government and assigning Fayez al-Tarawneh to lead a new one is a clear indication of King Abdullah II's desire to take the path of reform until the end. The Jordanian king is well aware that his country doesn't have the luxury to waste time, as parliamentary elections are supposed to be held before the end of the year. This step has to be preceded by issuing a new law for political parties , and another one for elections, in addition to the foundation of a constitutional court, which is why the king said in his response to al-Khasawneh's resignation: "We don't have either the luxury to waste time or the option of delaying what we have committed to do." Going directly to the point, the Jordanian kingdom will not let itself fail to catch the Arab Spring, in the same time that the Muslim Brotherhood are clearly trying to exploit every chance to  stir unrest in the country, especially after they thought they had succeeded in breaking through the Jordanian clans, after years of their popularity being limited among the Palestinian community. The political process must go in its normal path to close the way to the Brotherhood or any other parties which ignore that Jordan had never been a repressive state, as the concept of reform in this country is not new. This country had chosen to return to a parliamentary system in 1989, as elections took place in February of that year, at the same time the Berlin Wall was collapsing. The late King Hussein knew with his sharp political anticipation that the world is changing and the Cold War has ended. He tried to arrange the Jordanian interior in accordance with international changes -- this was 23 years ago. Due to the king's wisdom, Jordan was able to avoid the storms which other Middle-East countries went through. These included the Iraqi invasion to Kuwait, the war the invasion resulted in, the Madrid convention and the Oslo agreement. What are the indications of the reforms King Abdullah II insists on applying? The main one is that political life in Jordan is in a healthy state, and that Jordanian people have no hope in their future unless they avoid the choice of going to the streets. This choice, which the Brotherhood encourages, is intended to push the country towards chaos which opens the way for those against Jordan -- Israel tops that list, as it has always considered King Hussein and his successor King Abdullah II as tough opponents. King Hussein, who built the modern Jordanian state, and his son, who enabled the country to keep pace with international civilisation, have successfully stood against the alternative homeland project for the Palestinians.  Those who will choose to go to the streets will be involved in a game that will only result in destruction. Going to the streets with all its expected implications of violence, chaos and extremism is the Brotherhood's choice, while reform and ballot boxes are the choice of King Abdullah II. What must be remembered is that Jordan had chosen reforms as well as being part of the Arab Spring. Just a few days before he accepted the government's resignation, King Abdullah II said before the European parliament in Strasbourg: "The Arab world has woken up, and positive change has begun," he added "We are set to go through a long spring in the Arab region. This spring will not last for a season or even a year. Our societies still face a major challenge, which is to move from protests to programmes, and from criticism to a national strategy." A man who says these words must be completely aware about the challenges facing Arab countries, particularly in their interior. The main challenge is the lack of job opportunities for youth. The Arab youth have been considered a ticking bomb recently, taking into account the lack of ability to achieve their ambitions under the ruling regimes of the region. "We have now about 100 million young Arab men and women posing the biggest youth population in Arab history," said the king. "We can't afford to let even a single young citizen wait for nothing". What is important is that the Arab youth don't despair, as this feeling was the real motive behind the massive explosions that took place in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Yemen and first in Tunisia. There is no doubt Jordan is going through a tough and complicated period at the same time. There is a massive rise in population and a lack of natural resources, even water. There is a big challenge in education, which has ensured a considerable section of Jordanian society has not been involved in the extremism trend. This education is the main factor that gives many Jordanians the chance to find job opportunities in Jordan and abroad. Education was the main priority for King Abdullah II since he inherited the throne. The reform process is not a recent issue in Jordan. King Hussein has dreamed since the fifties to build a real partisan competition in Jordan as well as a parliament that produces a ruling power and an opposition that checks this power. This dream was hindered by regional complications and the meaningless slogans of some Arabs, chants that called sometimes for nationalism and other times for religious extremism. Reforms in Jordan are beyond retreat, but all Jordanians have to be responsible and avoid meaningless talk, as they are living in a country that always protected its people's rights against the pedantic and slogan-holders. These slogans served nobody but those who worked for them helped lose Palestine in 1948 as well as Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967. Jordan has enough meaningless slogans, now held by some of the religion-exploiters who refuse to admit that there was no chance for Jerusalem and the West Bank to be lost only if King Hussein was enabled to apply his vision and wisdom. It was possible to avoid this continual misery if the Arabs decided to be reasonable rather than believing the slogans composed by themselves. King Abdullah II talked in Strasbourg in a language that is understood by the world. He also talked about peace as a strategic interest for Jordan. His speech was up to the interior challenges of Jordan, but it is important that all the Jordanians, from whatever belongings, will be on the same level of awareness, at a time everybody is threatened. The slogan of "Jordan First" is the only valid one for this stage. Any other slogan will almost always end in disaster.