By Thameen Kheetan
AMMAN – Divisions have surfaced among Jordan’s elite over the ongoing unrest in the northern neighbour Syria.
Many writers, academicians and activists have engaged in a series of tit-for-tat statements, reflecting conflicting positions on street demonstrations in Syria, which President Bashar Assad described as part of a foreign “conspiracy”.
Several Jordanian figures and groups have denounced the northern neighbour’s Baath regime for “crimes and oppression” against civilians who demonstrate calling for democracy and freedoms.
Others, however, voice fears that such a conflict in an Arab country that has backed Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements against Israel would affect the region’s balance of power in favour of Tel Aviv.
A group of 72 writers published a statement on news websites criticising what they described as the “silence of the administrative commission” of the Jordanian Writers Association (JWA) over the news from Syria, where over 1,200 people are reported to have been killed by security forces since the eruption of protests some three months ago.