Jordan Watch : Race to the bottom between the Government and Islamists

I was astonished to read the summary of statements from the Government's Spoksman Nasser Joudeh in his weekly press conference where he stated that there is "no crises between the government and islamists in the light of the municiplaities elections".

If withdrawal from the elections, provocating the military and general intelligence and intimidating the state was not a sign of a crises from Islamists I will be amazed. If calling Islamists "rude" and juvenile and their movement hijacked by extremists who want to bring the conditions of Nahr Al barid to Jordan, from the side of the government was not a sign of crises, I will be puzzled.

What defines a political crises? does it have to be a complete political deadlock like in lebanon, or street fighting like in Palestine or wipe-out options like in Iraq? what has resulted from the municipal elections is a crises, and it is threatening to take the country to fearful destinations.

Like a race to the bottom between two fast cars, it is not an achievement to see who is first since there is no winner in this case. The whole country was hijacked in the stand-off between the government and the Islamists, with very little room for impartiality.

The government has opted for a landslide victory for its supported candidates in the election day and that has been acheived using very controversial ways that scarificed the principles of democracy. Neither the IAF or the whole Islamic movement deserves to jeopardize democracy principles for scoring an election victory. The Islamists driven by the new extremist leadership of Ayatollah Zaki bani Irshaid, aiming to be the ultimate religious and political reference in Jordan is raising the tone of its challenge to the state-not the government alone- by stretching its media muscles and waging a very well structured campaign against the security apparatus in Jordan.

The Jordanian sociey is baffled in the government-islamists dualism. The majority of moderate Jordanians are not impressed with the IAF rhetoric but still feel a lack of trust with the government policy. The IAF is working relentlessly to attract the "silent majority" to its side by focusing on socio-economic problems while we all know that such issues do not appear on the Hamas-Iran drawn Agenda of the new IAF leadership.

The government is to be blamed. In fact, it is the succession of governmental and security options in the last 15 years to blame.

By preventing the Jordanian society from developing a national political stream that believes in the principles of democracy, pluralism and reform within the state the public arena is currently occupied only by the Islamists. There is no way whatsoever to challenge the dangerous growing trend of Islamic extermists in the Jordanian society without an independent social and democratic political stream that can defend the basic human rights for Jordanians, acts a lever for democracy and subsequently halting the impact of Islamic extremism through active political participation and representation of the Jordanian society.

The race to the bottom between Islamists and the government requires a third party that can drive carefully and use the breaks to stop this race and guide Jordan to the right path of progress. Well the government give this third party a driving license?