ammonnews.net

Ammon News - Rumors of the demise of the Jordanian monarchy have been “greatly exaggerated for decades,” the country’s Prince El Hassan bin Talal told a gathering of British Jews on Wednesday night.

Jordan has recently been rocked by extensive rioting, sparked by hikes in fuel prices, in which protesters demanded serious political reforms.

In his speech, Prince Hassan claimed to have encountered at least one Jordanian protestor who was paid 200 dinars ($282) to demonstrate.

Foreign ambassadors, he said, were “asking demonstrators which way Jordan will jump when the regime is overturned.”

But the monarchy will survive, he said, because “we are not in it for prestige. I genuinely feel we are there for the sake of human dignity.”

In his speech, Hassan outlined a general vision for a peace settlement that addresses all refugees and displaced people in the region, not just Palestinians.

“I haven’t seen much of you for the past seven years. It took the British to get us together.”

He also said he hoped that Israel did not see the Arab Spring as a threat to its position as the only democracy in the Middle East.

Israel does not have a monopoly, or “an exclusive right to be democratic,” he said. “Inclusion is the way to go.”