Assabeel, an Arabic weekly newspaper in Amman, Jordan, wrote that "Abdullah Swalha does not seek to beautify the image of Israel in the Arab world." Here, Sawalha discusses his meeting with former Israeli president Shimon Peres in the city of Petra and states that, the CIS “believes a lot of important information about the Israeli society is absent from the Arab governments and their citizens. ... There is a difference", he added, "between talking about Israel as an occupying power and to talk about its political system."[6]