Meshal: Hamas won't tolerate Israeli schemes to turn Jordan into Palestinian homeland
In first visit to Jordan since he was expelled more than a decade ago, Hamas chief welcomes 'this new good start' in developing ties with Jordan.
By Haaretz and Reuters Tags: Hamas Palestinians Jordan kingHamas chief Khaled Meshal on Sunday made his first official visit to Jordan since the kingdom expelled him more than a decade ago and after talks with King Abdullah insisted that Jordan will not be a substitute homeland for the Palestinians.
"We are happy with this new good start ... We are keen on building strong ties with Jordan and on its security, stability and interests," AFP quotes Meshal as saying in a statement after the meeting.
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Jordan's King Abdullah (R) chats with senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on his arrival at the Royal Palace in Amman January 29, 2012. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
Meshal also blasted Israel for trying to make Jordan the substitute Palestinian state.
"Hamas stands firm against Israel's schemes to turn Jordan into a substitute homeland. Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine. We insist on restoring Palestinian rights," AFP quoted him as saying.
Meshal was accompanied by Qatar's Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. The visit was planned before an uprising erupted in Syria, where Hamas has had its main headquarters outside the Gaza Strip.
"Jordan supports the Palestinian Authority as well as Palestinian reconciliation," AFP quotes King Abdullah as saying.
"Uniting the Palestinian stand will strengthen the Palestinian people and help restore their rights," the king said.
Both Hamas and Jordan have denied that the Islamist movement may move its headquarters from Damascus, where many of its Jordanian leadership relocated after being expelled from the kingdom in 1999. The Syrian conflict has forced Hamas to move some of its activists and families out of the country.
"The talk about the visit preceded the events in Syria and is not linked," Izzat Risheq, a senior Hamas official, said.
Hamas and Jordanian officials said neither side discussed reopening the Hamas office in Jordan.
Diplomatic and intelligence sources say Meshal, 55, who has been based in Damascus since 2001, has effectively abandoned those headquarters, where he had been relative safety following a botched Israeli attempt on his life in the 1990s.
Jordan has indicated it will accommodate families of the Syrian based leadership, many of whom are Jordanian citizens, but would not tolerate political activities on its soil.
Analysts and Islamists say the visit has been given impetus by regional turmoil in which Islamists have made major political gains across the region following the "Arab Spring" uprisings, notably in Tunisia and Egypt.
Meshal said he hoped his meeting with the king would be followed by "other chapters in a strong relationship.
"Hamas is concerned about the security of Jordan and its stability and we respect this," he said.
Abdullah, a U.S. ally whose country was the second Arab state to make peace with Israel in 1994, is central to moribund Middle East peace efforts and seeks to appear as an honest broker with Palestinian factions, although the monarch strongly backs President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas consolidated its rule in the Gaza Strip in 2007 by overwhelming the forces of Abbas' Palestinian Authority, following victory in legislative elections.
Meshal, a Jordanian citizen, was deported to Qatar after a crackdown by security forces on the movement in 1999 amid charges it harmed Jordanian national interests.
The crackdown embittered many Jordanians of Palestinian origin, a majority of the population, who saw it as a dangerous precedent in a country where many native Jordanians oppose a larger political role for Palestinians.
Jordanian Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh's steps to co-opt Islamists to the cabinet have drawn the ire of the powerful security and native Jordanian political establishment that regards any comeback by Hamas as a boost to Islamists.
Jordanian Islamists, who make up the main political opposition, have been in the forefront of street protests demanding sweeping political reforms.
"There are forces that are not pleased with this visit and see themselves losing as a result," said Zaki Bani Irsheid, a leader of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood.
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Do you know that before the land was called Trans-Jordan, and later Jordan, It was called PALESTINE!!!!
Israel will never accept the Jewish homeland to absorb more Arabs. Arabs who are citizens of the State of Israel benefit from democratic laws and freedoms. It is not perfect, but it will get better, if and when the Arab world will respect the Jews right to live secure in their country.Shalom!
The last time the Jordanian option was accepted by Jordan was in 1987, when Foreign Minister Peres worked out the deal with King Hussein. Unfortunately, the ideological Likud PM Shamir rejected it. In 1988, Hussein renounced all claims to the West Bank and left the Palestinians to deal with Israel. Sovereignty of Jordan over the West Bank (aka Jordanian option) would have been very convenient for Israel. Jordan has Amman as a capital city, so they would not have demanded that Jerusalem become one. Also, Jordan would have been a much softer negotiator on land since they have much of their own. But the Likudniks rejected the deal for insistence on Greater Israel. Now the world is beginning to accept an independent Palestine in the 1967 border (up to land swaps). The pragmatist Ben Gurion managed to establish an internationally recognized Jewish state. The ideological Likud which insisted on the MAX will get an internationally recognized Palestinian state. There is a lesson in this.
nobody cares about what a terrorist would or would not tolerate - your time is up, and you will soon be relegated to the trash-heap of history's failures
But hey, if we can convince idiots like Romney that there aren't any Palestinians, maybe the world won't notice while we deport them...
If Jordan can host Hamas political bureau (despite having a peace treaty with Israel), so can Egypt. Egypt is now ruled by Islamic parties closer to Hamas than any force in Jordan. I assume therefore that Meshal or his successor will end up in Egypt before Jordan. The US has much less influence on Egypt because Egypt is far more important geopolitically.
I'll make you a deal, you acknowledge our right to exist and we'll acknowledge yours.
"Meshal, a Jordanian citizen." And Arafat was Egyptian. They both already have a state.
Israel will not succumb to arabs's sheme to invent another race of people on its land. The inventions of balestinian people in the 1970s on Jewish land will NEVER TO TOLERATED
why was he born in Egypt? If Cairo part of Palestine?
The reason that Israel has taken so much land in the west bank is because it was so easy to do. Nobody stood in their way. America and the EU stood back and made faint clucking sounds, which Israel ignored. In fact, I suspect that Israel was surprised at how easy it was to expand the settlements. It is still easy.
is that Jordan is Jewish land. They can plan what they want, but in the end these people will be removed one way or the other, to make way for the return of the Jewish homeland.
Even though teh US brokered the deal to allow you back in jordan, rememebr you are a guest and must keep a civil tongue. Perhaps encouraging peace instead of trying to blow peace up would go along way Imagine Meshal teh statesman not teh terrorists
Jordan is 98% Arab. But it serves a purpose to keep everyone dissatisfied with their lot in life and to stop them from building a better future. Hence, the majority of Jordanians are described as ethnic Palestinian, as opposed to native Jordanian, lest they begin to settle down. Even Meshal is not happy with his Jordanian nationality; he is so ethnically and religiously distinct that he needs a separate homeland. The Jews have one, and that's the one he wants.
I would not trust Hamas at all! They already challenged Jordan once and to change the name in another "Black September" is done in no time! The wettist dream of Hamas would be to drive Israel out of the region and then attack Jordan and add it to their "homeland"!
but israel is right ! the word palestinian is just pure invention ; they are arabs and their homeland is jordan
if "palestinians" is an invention, the notion of "israelis" is just empty air. "Filastin biladuna", al-din al Ramli, XVI centiry
hehehhe no u go back to eu israel is a one big lie go back eu
Let me ask you one question, invented? Israel or Palestine? Have you slept in the history lessons. I think there was not any in your school
"their homeland is jordan" -- Actually they are more deeply rooted where they live now than Jews who immigrated from America, Europe, and North Africa, and whose ancestors had not seen a piece of ME land since centuries, if not millenia.
Back to Europe where you belong. If you are not Sephardic perhaps it is best to go back to Eastern Europe. Just becuase you change the name of Palestinian Villages to Hebrew names, cleanse away any signs of it's prior inhabitants, and eat Falafel. Its still does not make you from the Holy Land.
and this he does not dare to ask, Big Brother Qatar is watching!
already are?
that with "Let Jordan reclaim what it lost in war" you mean they should reclaim the Westbank Arabs, but not the Westbank land.