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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - In response to the Egyptian writer and presenter M.H. Heikel and his accusations about Jordan and the late King Hussein's supposed secret dealings with Israel and receiving funds from the US during the 60s, former Prime Minister Zeid Rifaie responded to these accusations with documents.

However, Rifaie said in the beginning of an interview on Al Jazeera Satellite Channel broadcasted on Saturday that he will not defend the late King Hussein, "King Hussein does not need to be defended by me or any other person. His character, national stances and sacrifices for the sake of the Arab cause, and the Palestinian cause in particular, are inumerable and obvious to observers and objective people," Rifaie said in the interview.

"I will not offend Mr. Heikel or cause him any harm…we used to know each other…but I was surprised and felt sad when I heard what he said on TV," Rifaie noted.

Following is part of Rifaie's response to Heikel's monologue:

According to Rifaie, the Arab Army did not surrender Lydda and Ramla in Palestine. When the Israelis intensified their attacked on Jerusalem, the Arab Army that had a limited number of forces at the time, moved to Jerusalem to protect it. There was a deal with the Iraqi army who were in Lydda and Ramla to replace the Arab Army and protect these cities, but they failed to do so at the time.

As for communications with Israel, they did not continue after 1948, with the aim of preventing the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine. The Arab Army was able to keep West Bank and Jerusalem, in particular, for Arabs. They succeeded in ousting the Israelis from Jerusalem, and the document of surrender from the Israeli leader is available.

There were no communications from that time until 1963. The aim of these communications were not political, but intended to bias the Zionist lobby in the US that had power over the Congress and the Administration, putting pressure on them in order not to provide the Arab Army with weapons.

The aim of these communications were then to enable Jordan to provide the Arab Army with weapons and garner the support of the US.

At the time during which there was no contact between Jordan and Israel, other Arab countries were maintained contact with Israel. “This is documented and I have a document from the Middle East Mission, that details the communications between the Egyptian leadership and Israel and the US.”


To be continued…