World

Jordan Moves Against Hamas

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

August 31, 1999 / 12:04 PM EDT / CBS

Signaling a possible crackdown against Muslim militants in advance of Madeleine AlbrightÂ's Mideast trip, Jordan on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for four top Hamas leaders. On Monday, police raided offices used by the Palestinian group in its fight against Israel.

Twelve Jordanians working for the Iran-backed Islamic militant movement were arrested for questioning during the raids, a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin condemned the crackdown at a news conference in Gaza City Tuesday, saying Jordan's action was an obvious move to satisfy Israel just days before Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to the region.

Â"What happened in Jordan is part of a U.S. plan to pressure Hamas to join the peace process and of course we see that process as an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause,Â" Yassin said.

He urged Jordan's King Abdullah II to Â"stop this campaign, and to work at deepening brotherly ties with Hamas, and the Palestinian people.Â"

Hamas opposes peace between the Israelis and Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. It advocates the annihilation of Israel and has claimed several suicide bombings in Israel, which killed dozens.

The Islamic militant movement does not have government permission to work in Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. But the Jordanian government had long tolerated it.

Among the four Hamas leaders who face arrest is Khalid Mashaal, the head of the Hamas political bureau and its most senior official in Jordan, security and judicial sources said on condition of anonymity. Mashaal survived an assassination attempt by Israeli secret agents in 1997.

Mashaal and the other three are believed to be abroad, and the arrest warrants could serve to keep them out of Jordan. They worked out of the offices, mostly commercial establishments, of Jordanian sympathizers. Those offices were raided and their doors sealed Monday.

Jordan's largest social and religious group, the Muslim Brotherhood, condemned the raids.

In a written statement, the Brotherhood said the crackdown Â"insults the feelings of Jordanians, Arabs and Muslims who consider Hamas to be the advance guard of the Arab nation in fighting the (Israeli) occupation.Â"

Jordan's largest political party, the Islamic Action Front, called on the government to revoke the closure of the offices, saying it viewed the situation gravely.

Many activists have expressed worries that the closure of Hamas offices could be a prelude to tighter controls and restrictions on the broader mainstream Islamic movement, the country's most organised political grouping.

Aside from Mashaal, security and judicial sources said, the others wanted include: Hamas spokesman Ibrahim Ghosheh and political bureau members Mohammed Nazzal and Moussa Abu Marzuk, who was deported from the United States in 1997.

The four men are bing sought for belonging to an illegal group, the sources said.

Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the United States have frequently urged Jordan in the past to curb the activities of Hamas.

But a senior Jordanian official said the crackdown was not in response to any special request by the Israelis and the Palestinians.

It could, however, have been ordered now because a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement appears to be turning into a reality. If Hamas remains a threat, the peace process could be hampered.

Â"Jordan ... wants to live in peace and security with Israel and with its Arab neighbors, and therefore to take steps against Hamas is a very positive and clever step from the Jordanian government,Â" Israeli Cabinet member Haim Ramon said Tuesday. Â"Any terrorist group, and Hamas is a terrorist group, is a threat to peace and security.Â"

Albright visits the region this week in an effort to push peace negotiations forward.

In the past, Amman has repeatedly told Israel and the Palestinian Authority that it could not act against Hamas as long as its activists abided by Jordanian law.

Islamic sources said they feared the move was aimed at silencing public opposition to the country's 1994 peace treaty with Israel, which they say many Jordanians fervently oppose.