Israel slams Jordan's talks with Hamas as 'unhelpful to peace process'
By The Associated Press Last update - 21:12 27/08/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1015838.html

Israel on Wednesday criticized Jordanian overtures to the Palestinian
Islamist group Hamas, saying the Hashemite Kingdom's reversal of
long-standing policy is "unhelpful to the peace process.

In an about-face, Jordan is reaching out to Hamas amid fears that a collapse
of Mideast peacemaking would bring an influx of refugees. But the U.S. ally
must walk a delicate line to avoid angering its U.S. and Israeli friends.

Hamas is outlawed in Jordan, which has accused the group in the past of
trying to destabilize it. But Jordanian intelligence chief Mohammed
al-Dahabi held two covert meetings with top Hamas leaders this month, ending
a nearly decade-long banishment of the group.

The talks don't mean Jordan, which signed a 1994 peace deal with Israel, is
embracing the militant group or is turning its back on Arab-Israeli
negotiations. But the kingdom has clearly decided it's better to rebuild a
relationship with Hamas than keep shunning it as an enemy amid doubts over
the peace process' future.

"We're at a crossroads and Jordan must protect itself and its national
interests," said former Jordanian parliament speaker Abdul-Latif Arabiyat.

Jordan fears that the possible failure of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks
backed by the Bush administration, which leaves office early next year,
could embolden Hamas in the neighboring West Bank, as well as Muslim
extremists in Jordan and across the Mideast. Quiet contacts with Hamas could
mollify any fallout for Jordan if that happens.

Also, Jordan is worried a failure of talks will revive Israeli hardliner
calls for ejecting West Bank Palestinians to Jordan or for parts of the West
Bank to form a confederation with the kingdom as an alternative to an
independent state.

Jordan, which ruled the West Bank from 1950 to 1967, strongly opposes such a
move, as do Hamas and other Palestinians. Jordan's worries are demographic:
Roughly half of its 5.8 million population are of Palestinian descent, from
families that were displaced to the kingdom in two wars with Israel since
1948. Jordan is ruled by an elite drawn from its native, Bedouin-rooted
clans.

Another flood of Palestinians could overwhelm Jordan and even spark civil
unrest. In 1970, the Palestine Liberation Organization tried to overthrow
Jordan's Hashemite monarchy by setting up a Palestinian government. But
Jordan fought a bloody war, known as "Black September," as it evicted the
PLO from its territory.

Jordan's contacts with Hamas have already irked Israel and Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas, whose U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority controls
the West Bank and has been battling to end Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip
last year.

Abbas sent his interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiye, to Jordan last week to
"find out what the Jordanians are up to and if their contacts with Hamas
meant dropping support for the Palestinian Authority," said an Amman-based
Palestinian official, insisting on anonymity citing diplomatic
sensitivities.

Israeli Embassy spokesman Itai Bardov in Amman called Jordan's contacts with
Hamas "unhelpful to the peace process."

"We're against any negotiations with Hamas because we regard it as a
terrorist movement," he said. "We should find ways to strengthen the
Palestinian Authority instead of legitimizing Hamas, which made an illegal
military coup in Gaza."

The United States also considers Hamas a terror organization and has refused
contact with it. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after
seeing Palestinian and Israeli leaders that there was hope for a Mideast
peace deal, but she offered no reason for optimism beyond the fact that the
two sides are speaking.

Mindful of its allies' worries, Jordan only reluctantly confirmed its
meetings with Hamas, days after they occurred.

State Minister for Information Nasser Judeh said Jordan wanted the meetings
to continue, and that the discussions so far had focused only on "pending
security issues."

Deputy Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said the talks, headed by Hamas
official Mohammed Nazzal, tackled a wide range of issues, including the
plight of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, Jewish settlements in the
West Bank and ways to "confront a substitute homeland for the Palestinians
in Jordan."

With the meetings, Jordan may be hoping to help mend the Hamas-Abbas rift
and boost the peace process, averting any talk of a Jordanian solution to
the Palestinian question. It may also be trying to help in mediating a
release of Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit, captured by Gaza militants more than
two years ago. Abu Marzouk said the Jordanian intelligence chief inquired in
the meetings about Shalit.

The split between Jordan and Hamas dates back to 1999, when Jordan came
under tremendous pressure from the United States and Israel because Hamas
leaders on its soil were making statements disparaging peace and ties with
Israel and America. Jordan ejected Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal and
other top leaders for unspecified "illegal activities," shut down Hamas
offices and clamped down on lower-ranking members.