A diplomatic spat erupted on Wednesday between Jordan and the Islamic Hamas movement, after Amman canceled a visit by Palestinian Foreign Minister and senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Zahar, amid charges that Hamas was smuggling weapons into the Hashemite kingdom.
A Hamas spokesman condemned the accusation but Jordan's lower house of parliament rejected what it described as an "encroachment" on the country's security.
At the same time, however, the chamber called for boosting Amman's ties with the new Palestinian Hamas-dominated government.
Al-Zahar's visit to Amman, scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed indefinitely after Jordanian spokesman Nasser Judeh announced that security authorities had "spotted several attempts by Hamas elements to smuggle various types of weapons and store them in Jordan."
The weapons included missiles, explosives and machine guns, he said.
"Security services also observed at different stages activities by Hamas elements in Jordan, including surveillance of vital targets in Amman and other cities," Judeh said.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri told reporters that his movement condemned and rejected the Jordanian accusations.
The charge was "baseless" and could not be believed, he said, "because it is known that Hamas is keen not to interfere in others' affairs and keeps the battle only against the Israeli occupation."
"We are sorry Jordan used this technique to justify cancelling the visit of the foreign minister at the last moment," he added.
Jordan's largest political party, The Islamic Action Front (IAF), described the government's accusation of arms smuggling as a "fabrication."
"We cannot trust the allegation that Hamas elements have been targeting vital Jordanian sites, because the avowed policy of Hamas is to develop close ties with Jordan and other Arab and Islamic countries and not to attack any targets outside Palestine," IAF Secretary General Zaki Bani Irsheid said.
The Jordanian government congratulated Hamas for its January election victory, but refrained from any official dealings with its figures pending the publication of the program to be adopted by the new government.
However, Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit sent a message of support to his Palestinian counterpart, Ismail Haniyeh, after his government took office at the end of last month.
The Jordanian government's decision to defer Zahar's visit followed Hamas' failure to condemn Monday's suicide bombings in Tel Aviv that was unequivocally denounced by Jordan.
It is also reminiscent of Jordan's deportation in 1999 of four Hamas, leaders including Politburo chief Khalid Mishaal, after accusing them of illegal practices.
The Islamic-led opposition then charged that the step was taken in response to Israeli and US pressure.
Since Hamas triumphed in the Palestinian polls, Amman has refused to allow Mishaal to visit Jordan and insisted on resolving "outstanding legal problems" between the two sides before such a visit takes place.
The Israeli government's recent decision to sever all contact with the Hamas-led government seems to have caused embarrassment for Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab states that have so far concluded official peace treaties with the Jewish state.
This explains Zahar's failure to meet with any Egyptian official when he visited Cairo at the outset of his trip earlier this week, US-based diplomats said.
They predicted that the latest Jordanian step would exacerbate the isolation of the Hamas government, which faces thorny political and economic problems at home.
ROCKY RELATIONS: The figures on residents come as Chinese tourist numbers drop following Beijing’s warnings to avoid traveling to Japan The number of Chinese residents in Japan has continued to rise, even as ties between the two countries have become increasingly fractious, data released on Friday showed. As of the end of December last year, the number of Chinese residents had increased by 6.5 percent from the previous year to 930,428. Chinese people accounted for 22.6 percent of all foreign residents in Japan, making them by far the largest group, Japanese Ministry of Justice data showed. Beijing has criticized Tokyo in increasingly strident terms since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested that a military conflict around Taiwan could
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
A retired US colonel behind a privately financed rocket launch site in the Dominican Republic sees the project as a response to China’s dominance of the space race in Latin America. Florida-based Launch on Demand is slated to begin building a US$600 million facility in a remote region near the border with Haiti late this year. The project is designed to meet surging demand for the heavy-lift rockets needed to put clusters of satellites into orbit. It is also an answer to China’s growing presence in the region, said CEO Burton Catledge, a former commander of the US Air Force’s 45th Operations
Germany is considering Australia’s Ghost Bat robot fighter as it looks to select a combat drone to modernize its air force, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said yesterday. Germany has said it wants to field hundreds of uncrewed fighter jets by 2029, and would make a decision soon as it considers a range of German, European and US projects developing so-called “collaborative combat aircraft.” Australia has said it will integrate the Ghost Bat, jointly developed by Boeing Australia and the Royal Australian Air Force, into its military after a successful weapons test last year. After inspecting the Ghost Bat in Queensland yesterday,
RSS