BBC Monitoring

Text of report by Jordanian newspaper Al-Ra'y on 26 August

[Report by Khalaf al-Tahat in Amman: "Failure of a popular rally organized by the Islamic Action Front Party"]

The [Islamic] Action Front [IAF] Party failed to ensure the success of what it called a popular rally that it organized yesterday in its premises after national figures, prominent leaders in the opposition parties, and representatives of the civic society declined to attend convinced that such a gathering is no more than one of the crazes of the hardliners in the party and is part of the ongoing and escalating campaign against the homeland and its accomplishments.

Yesterday, Zaki Bani-Irshayd, the secretary general of the party, acted in an undemocratic way. He proved that he is the enemy of freedoms and the hostage of emotional reaction. He showed that political immaturity is part of his history that is tampering with the philosophy of the Islamic movement when he treated the press and media outlets that had been invited to cover the ga! thering in a clearly temperamental manner. He went so far as to try and prevent the editor of political party affairs of the Al-Ra'y newspaper from covering the event and threatened to take Al-Ra'y to account for every word it writes about the IAF. Three weeks after the announcement of the results of the municipal elections -in which the party's candidates were defeated -the organizers of this craze went far in disparaging the state institutions, the army, and the security services. In fact, during moments when they lost their sense of responsibility and patriotism, these organizers began to make jokes about the members of the armed forces amidst a boisterous climate of laughter and applause! The hardliners in the IAF continued to disparage the institutions of the homeland and insulted the integrity of the judicial system. They mobilized the Al-Manar and Al-Jazeera satellite channels and cited every disparagement that came in recent reports. The organizers insisted on malig! ning the reputation of the homeland and sabotaging the march of democr atic reform that is protected by the people and their armed forces.

Some of those present felt that this was an opportunity for exhibition while one person thought that he was standing on the pulpit of a mosque delivering a speech to combatants not politicians. The exhibitionism and the rhetoric blurred the exact message that this gathering wished to convey. It failed in mobilizing the candidates of the tribes from coming to the IAF party premises just it had failed earlier in driving the national opposition parties to join the IAF hardliners in supporting Hamas when it took control of Gaza through military means.

Source: Al-Ra'y, Amman, in Arabic 26 Aug 07