( dpa )- Jordan's trade unions Thursday lashed out at the Health Ministry for issuing invitations to doctors to attend a training course in Israel, and urged Jordanian physicians to reject the offer.
"We are surprised and feel regret over the Health Ministry's invitations which promote normalization with the Zionist entity at a time when the Zionist gangs commit the ugliest crimes against our brethren in Palestine," the unions said in a joint statement.
The country's 14 professional societies were responding to the Health Ministry's invitations to doctors to attend a training course organized by the Centre for International Cooperation (MASHAV), which is attached to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
The statement urged Jordanian physicians not to respond to the invitation, recalling that Jordanian journalists had refused in the past to take part in seminars in the Jewish state and that Jordanian hotels refrained from hosting Israeli embassy functions.
"The invitations seek to achieve a target beyond holding training courses penetrating the security of our country in its comprehensive sense," the statement said.
The country's trade unions have joined the Islamic-led opposition parties over the past 14 years in rejecting the 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel.