AMMAN, Jordan, June 8 (UPI) -- Jordan's Islamists deplored Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's visit to Jordan on Thursday, expressing "bitterness and condemnation."
"We feel bitterness at the presence of the prime minister of the Israeli enemy on Jordanian territory, and whose aggressive police and declared plans pose real danger on Jordan," Hamza Mansour, head of the Consultative Council of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood Organization, Thursday said in a statement hours before Olmert's arrival in Amman.
He stressed that Olmert's visit is affecting the majority of Jordanians and should be strongly denounced and condemned.
"Olmert is nothing but the other face of (former premier Ariel) Sharon and is continuing the latter's expansionist policy at the expense of the Palestinian people," Hamza said.
He stressed that Olmert's unilateral policies and plans "will have dangerous consequences on Jordan and Palestine," denouncing certain Arab countries for welcoming him despite the announcement of his program threatening the Arab nation.
Hamza was clearly referring to Egypt and the Jordanian government.
He said "Jordan's interest lies in being harmonious with the sentiments in the street rejecting any relations with Israel, while boosting ties with the Arabic and Islamic depth."
Olmert's starts an official visit to Jordan Thursday, his first since his election last March and the first by an Israeli prime minister in six years.
Official sources said Jordan's King Abdullah will seek to revive the stalled peace process on the basis of implementing the road map which envisions a viable independent Palestinian state living in peace on Israel's side.
Abdullah announced earlier Jordan's rejection of Olmert's unilateral separation plan from the Palestinians which includes the annexation of big settlements in the West Bank.
