The UK’s Daily Telegraph on Sunday reported that Jordan’s intelligence chiefs had warned King Abdullah that militant Islamic groups such as Hamas and Hizbollah were successfully exploiting the burning frustration and anti-Israeli sentiment among the 1.6 million Palestinians in Jordan's squalid refugee camps.
But the crackdown by Jordan’s security forces has aimed at silencing all Jordanians who support the Palestinian Intifada in the Occupied Territories, not just the millions of Palestinian refugees. Fearing the harm that widespread protests could do to national security, as well as allegedly associated incidents of sabotage, Jordan’s Ministry of Interior has banned demonstrations since last October.
Demonstrators have demanded an end to Jordan's ties with Israel. The bitterness was reflected by the jubilation that greeted the news of the June 1 Tel Aviv nightclub bombing carried out by a visiting Jordanian of Palestinian origin, according to the report.
The governor of Amman has banned all public rallies, calling them a threat to "security and order," following a series of pro-Palestinian demonstrations carried out without official permission in the capital this year. Police used clubs and dogs to break up one recent peaceful rally, ordering protesters to stay off the streets in future, said the paper.
In another incident reflecting official nervousness, said the paper, security agents staged a pre-dawn raid on the homes of prominent members of a Jordanian organization vehemently opposed to the normalization of trade relations with Israel.
Seven men were detained and subsequently charged with illegal acts threatening state security. Two of them were also accused of possessing explosives and detonators - an offence that could carry the death penalty.
According to the Telegraph, “a majority of people living in Jordan are of Palestinian descent. Many have family connections in the West Bank. The authorities are worried that unrest among this community - and calls by them to break the country's peace treaty with Israel - might widen ethnic divisions and provoke clashes with the indigenous Jordanian minority. King Abdullah and his advisers are also concerned that armed guerrillas from the West Bank might seek sanctuary in Jordan if Israel launches a full-scale offensive to crush the Intifada.”
"Nobody has forgotten what happened during the 1960s, when the country was gradually turned into a stronghold of Palestinian terrorist organizations," one Jordanian politician told the Telegraph. After attempts to overthrow the late King Hussein, the fighters were forcibly expelled in 1970. "Abdullah was taken by surprise when this new wave of violence in the West Bank and Gaza erupted last year. He is desperate to avoid being sucked deeper into the conflict," added the politician.
Nevertheless, the Telegraph report ignored the fact that those taking part in the rally included thousands of what the paper called “indigenous Jordanians,” as well as the glaring fact that the Islamic movements in Jordan are led by members of key Jordanian tribes. Their activity reflects the fact that most if not all Arabs hold anti-Israeli sentiments, if the pro-Palestinian actions staged in most Arab capitals are any indication.
So far, the 39-year-old monarch has been treading carefully, said the paper, voicing solidarity with the Palestinian cause and providing medical care for civilian victims of Israeli attacks. On the diplomatic front, he has delayed the posting to Israel of Jordan's new ambassador. Amman has joined other Arab governments in criticizing Israel's actions, although it has also been involved in attempts to keep the peace process alive.
Jordan is still waiting for the economic bonanza that was expected to follow its normalization of ties with Israel, the paper noted. This has not materialized - hitting plans for social reforms which could help ordinary Palestinians – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
