Jordan and the Middle East

(Jordan's) Crown Prince Hassan, the regent, has effectively put an end to all speculations and assumptions about new pacts, alliances or axes in the Middle East to which Jordan would be party.

The kind of new Middle Eastern order that Jordan aspires for would include Iraq, Iran and Syria and would extend from Morocco in the West to the central Asian republics in the East. The ultimate purpose of the new order would be to articulate an enlightened definition of what constitutes security to ensure, as the Regent put it, that security is not about arms and military superiority but ultimately about human dignity.

Jordan did not, and is not promoting pacts. It is promoting conflict prevention centers, conflict resolution centers and a regional conversation through which all countries of the area will articulate a code of conduct that will comprehensively address absolute, and significant issues of concern.

This new methodology will simply make the Middle East a safer and better place in which to live.

-- The Jordan Times, Amman