By Suleiman al-Khalidi AMMAN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Jordan dropped the case against a former palace aide charged with slandering King Abdullah after saying citizens of Palestinian origin were poorly represented in government and parliament, officials said on Monday. The state security court prosecutor general, on "orders at the highest level", in a reference to King Abdullah, dropped the case against Adnan Abu Oudeh, who was a senior aide to late King Hussein during clashes between the army and Palestinian guerrillas in 1970. Abu Oudeh, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, and one of a few like him who assumed a senior post, had sparked a political controversy after an interview on Al Jazeera television in which he said there was official discrimination against citizens of Palestinian origin. Last Thursday he was charged with slandering the king and sowing internal strife after legal complaints were filed by several native Jordanians who deemed his comments unpatriotic. Privately officials say the move against Abu Oudeh was prompted by a powerful conservative political establishment that considers it taboo to publicly raise the issue of the political empowerment of Jordanians of Palestinian origin. Some politicians criticised Abu Oudeh's indictment, saying it sought to silence dissenters while critics say expressing such views only deepens divisions the country cannot tolerate. STALWART SUPPORTER Abu Oudeh told Reuters soon after he was charged that those behind the complaints misread his comments as he was a stalwart supporter of the monarchy and the system. Over the years Jordanians of Palestinian origin who settled after the creation of Israel in 1948 have become a majority in the country of over 5.7 million inhabitants. They now are influential in businesses and the economy but are marginalised in the public services, parliament, the army and senior government posts. A bigger future political role has stirred fears by mainly indigenous tribal Jordanians that they will permanently settle in the kingdom regardless of the fate of the Arab-Israeli conflict. They say a wider political role for Palestinians will only serve Israel's interests where many right wing voices clamour to resolve the Palestinian refugee problem at Jordan's expense by forcing their permanent settlement in the kingdom.
