Jordanian newspapers Saturday urged Arab countries to emulate Russia and France and "break" the air embargo imposed on Iraq, a day after a French humanitarian flight landed there.
"It is a shame that the planes which have begun to land in Iraq don't include one Arab flight," Al-Dustour newspaper said in a front-page editorial titled "Where are the Arab planes?"
"This brings to mind the embargo on Libya which was challenged and broken by African leaders in the absence of any Arab initiative," the newspaper said about plane trips taken in 1999 by several African leaders to Libya in defiance of a UN-imposed air embargo on that country.
"It is high time for unifed Arab, Islamic action to face American-British piracy which is trying to dictate its will to the international community," Al-Dustour said.
Al-Arab Al-Yawm newspaper editor-in-chief took the call one step further by specifically urging Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb to visit Baghdad although he stopped short from asking him to fly to Iraq.
"If Prime Minister Abu Ragheb visits Baghdad it will be a big step that will meet with widespread popular support in Jordan ... and no doubt the visit will draw American anger," Taher Adwan said in the commentary.
"Official Jordanian policy towards Iraq is facing increasing internal pressure asking that land and air borders be opened to trade," Adwan added.
Jordan, one of Washington's key Arab allies, used to be Iraq's top trading partner before the 1991 Gulf war during which a US-led international force routed Iraqi troops from Kuwait which they invaded in August 1990.
A government official told AFP on Wednesday that Abu Ragheb could travel soon to Iraq in a first visit to Baghdad in nearly a decade by a head of the country's government.
The visit would coincide with a request by Jordan for the United Nations to permit the resumption of air links with Iraq and negotiations between Amman and Baghdad to renew an oil and trade agreement between them.
Under the terms of the accord for 2000, Jordan will export up to 300 million dollars worth of goods to Baghdad in exchange for 4.8 million tones of oil. Jordan depends entirely on Iraqi oil supplies -- AMMAN(AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
