So after expelling Hamas leaders some years back for "collaborating on Jordanian soil with foreign sides that do not like Jordan or its well-being,"Jordan has changed its position on the organization and is now accepting the status quo following the sweeping victory of the armed group during the recent Palestinian parliamentary elections.
Jordan said Wednesday it would welcome a visit by the leaders of the militant Palestinian Hamas group, a departure from Amman’s position that it would not deal with the exiled chiefs. "We welcome the visit of a delegation of our brothers the leaders of Hamas in their capacity as leaders of a Palestinian faction which we respect and value," Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit told a parliamentary session.
Al-Bakhit’s remarks show a change in the firm position that the government would not deal with the Hamas leaders who live outside the Palestinian territories because of what they refer to as "standing legal obstacles."
Source: [The Jerusalem Post]
Now, what does this mean? Is Jordan between a rock and a hard place? Will accepting the democratically-elected group affect Jordan’s amicable relationship with the US, which, along with Europe, regards the group as a terrorist organization? And how will this change in political dynamics impact the peace process with Israel? Jordanian blogger Khalaf provides some scenarios:
If Hamas opts to continue with the peace process, then Jordan and Egypt will try to work with them to create circumstances to make that happen. On the other hand, if it opts to join the Iran-Syria axis, th[e]n one would expect this axis to develop a joint negotiating strategy. What is the strategy of Syria and Iran? Well, basically to create trouble in Iraq and in Lebanon as a way to project influence and hold leverage.
How would Hamas fit in to this? The scary answer is that its role would be to create trouble in Jordan. This is not a far-fetched scenario and we should be aware that it is a possibility.
Analysts believe that Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, which has longstanding links with Hamas (and here), has been flexing its muscles following the Palestinian elections results. Khalaf is concerned:
The links between the Moslem Brotherhood and Hamas are well known, and some even believe that they are fundamentally the same organization. Given the reach of the MB into Jordanian politics and society, this should be a question of extreme concern.
I will not add much to what Khalaf says here, except to say that we do live in interesting times.
What the ME coutries are going to have to give now is money and lots of it. The US has already asked for $50 million to be returned. I doubt that will happen, but it does send a strong signal that there will be no more aid forthcoming if “Hamas” cannot accept a few conditions that must be met in order for the aid to continue.
Khalaf, how can we be HONEST in supporting Hamas as the legitimate representatives for Palestinians, yet treating them with high distrust?
It’s like saying, in other words, that we are OK with Hamas as long as they don’t create any problems with others, especially the west.
I think your idea of Hamas creating troubles in Jordan as part of joining the Iran/Syria axis is not accurate; in fact it’s a misleading idea. Everyone knows what the inputs of the Iran/Iraq case and the Syria/Lebanon case are. How does that similar to the Jordan/Palestine case? How do you think destabilizing Jordan can help Hamas or the Palestinian getting any support or sympathy at least by Arabs?
We should bear in mind that we’re not supporting Hamas as a group. What we’re supporting here is the Palestinians’ choice to find there way out of this struggle. We should do it with honesty and give their suffering a little priority.
I think your Paranoia is, somehow, unjustified.
Khalaf, what cover up are you talking about? It was released to the entire world that this “terrorist group” came into Jordan from Syria, there was no attempt to cover it up.
Also, in Jordan, anything that’s not “with the flow” of the government’s own agenda is labeled a “threat to national security”. Even freedom of expression is suppressed under the banner of protecting the national security. So you want to push what someone said “off the record” about Hamas “planning to threaten Jordan’s security” on me? That’s not enough, and don’t blame me, blame our government that drove (and still drives) its own credibility into the ground every day.
Also, lets please not group Hamas and Syria in the same side just yet, ok? The discussion about Syria should be a completely different one. And before Hamas and Syria ever actually end up in this one scenario that you’re speculating that would spell trouble for Jordan, Jordan still has the best chances to win Hamas over. So there you go, if you keep talking about this way, and if what you’re saying happens and we alienate Hamas from ourselves, then you would have created your own little self fullfilling prophecy!
You’re making things sound way worse than what they are. And I know that what you’re saying is preparing ourselves for the worst scenario, but what you’re suggesting ironically happens to be the only way we could ever end up at the worst possible scenario. I’m saying, lets take the better route.
Hamzeh: Many people have spoken (off the record) about real attempt by Hamas to interfere in Jordanian politics and to threaten Jordan’s security prior to their expulsion in 1999. The Jayyousi terror group that tried to attack the Mukhabarat with chemical weapons crossed over from Syria. The fact that Jordan tried to cover this up doesn’t make it less of a fact. You would have to be extremely naieve not to entertain the possibility that at least some of the recent assassinations in Lebanon were carried out by Syrian agents. So we should count on Hamas’ and Syria’s good judgment and good will. Ha!
I agree that we should deal positively with whoever the Palestinians choose to lead them. On the other hand, we should be VERY careful, and they should be aware that we are watching.
Khalaf, I agree it’s time be proactive. That’s why I think we did the right thing in being one of the first countries to officially welcome the new Palestinian leadership. We didn’t wait for the rest of the world to do so and if we did we would have beem making a big mistake.
Also, don’t you think it’s unfair to build an entire argument against welcoming Hamas on speculation about Syria’s current role (if any) in Lebanon? Why is it that when someone talks about an Israeli role in distabilizing Iraq they are called out as conspiracy theorists, while doing the same in regards to Syria slips by and even gets encouraged?
Also, I believe everyone would agree that if we had a real democracy in Jordan today that the “people’s choice” in Jordan would be to allow the acceptance of the new Palestinian leadership and I believe everyone would agree that that won’t change by the time we really have full democracy in Jordan. So why go against that today? Why not go the other way and push what you and I know most Jordanians are ok with, why not help produce the results of democracy today even if we don’t have it in the system?
You’re right that we have to be proactive in such interesting times, and I believe that’s what I’m asking for. And I’d like to add the following to it: in interesting times such as these, do you really wanna stay with the mainstream (which today is driven by US foreign policy)? I think the answer is no, because everyone sees where this US policy has brought us to since the end of the second gulf war more than a decade ago and where it’s taking us doesn’t look so promising either.
This all makes even more sense, when you consider that the probability of Hamas doing anything outside Palestine is almost zero. This is even more so when you consider that Hamas’ main goal is to legitimize itslef an its armed struggle against occupation according to world standards. This makes it probably the most honest governing body in the world today when it comes to intentions because they’re not afraid to say what they really want, and they’ve shown that they’re willing to compromise in order to legitimize it. Take for example their talk about establishing a Palestinian army which signals the willingness to depart from the militant factions scheme that’s prevailed for the last few decades.
The Palestinians have said their word. People there are hopeless. They are fed up with all the fake promises. What results have they achieved after all this time? One failure after another with negotiations, more killing, more lands and water sources stolen, infrastructure destroyed on a daily basis, more forcible immigrants and finally the apartheid wall. It might be an extreme measure they took, but I think they had to. They had it with the Israeli arrogance.
Now it’s time for all those crippling Arabs to support the Palestinians’ choice, and to take a serious stance with our brothers in Palestine, even if they have to risk a little luxury.
Unfair call! I agree that I am paranoid about this, but I don’t think that we can be too careful about our stability and security. I would rather err on the safe side.
Natasha is right. We do live in interesting times. This means that a lot of what happens can’t be predicted. It is a time to be proactive, not reactive.
I think our government is doing the right thing. If the entire world decides to betray the Palestinian choice, we especially in Jordan owe it to our Palestinian brothers not to turn our back on them.
I think Khalaf is being a little bit too paranoid :p I mean you can’t make the jump from speculating about Syria having any role today in distabilizing Iraq or Lebanon to a role for Hamas in the future in distabilizing Jordan.
Hamas is new to the political stage, it is looking for as many friends as possible, and no matter how many compatible statements Iran or Syria produce, Hamas will always know that Jordan houses more than 2 million Palestinians and that’s where Palestine’s strongest ally is.
I call unnecessary roughness, 15 yards penalty, on you and Khalaf :p
Why do I see more Arabs using the terminology of the western media when discussing domestic issues? (Terrorist organization, Suicide bombers), Why do some ppl think that this will negatively affect the situation in Jordan? Hamas is a political and militant group and when your country is occupied you need both. And it was democratically elected by Palestinians. Arafat and his group were not quite the choice of the Palestinians. And they also had their militant wing and did their part of the killing, yet they were welcomed by the west and all the Arabs. What does that mean?
However, Jordan was against the invasion of Iraq, yet the Jordanians have to suffer the consequences.
Abdo: why are you so scared man? Are occupying anyone’s land? If you are so sissy, you can stop watching the news. This is perhaps all you do towards the Palestinian struggle.
Waste of time .. Hamas is a terrorist organization that supports the killing of civilians and no the opinion that its ok since the other side is doing the same is not accepted.
Suicide bombers and muderers .. we dont need this in Amman