Score one for the peace process. By cracking down on Hamas, the new Jordanian king demonstrated not only his bold style but also his firm support for both Israel and Yasir Arafat’s Palestinian Authority. In reality, Abdullah had little choice: with Syria reining in its activists and many others jailed in the West Bank and Gaza, Amman was fast becoming the center of Hamas’s broad network and a haven for the region’s extremists. Furthermore, Abdullah worried that the movement was radicalizing Jordan’s own moderate Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Still, it was not a decision the king took lightly. Many Palestinians in Jordan sympathize with Hamas; Abdullah’s father, King Hussein, who died last February, had long turned a blind eye to the terrorist group. The jailed Hamas activists include Khaled Meshaal, who became a folk hero when he narrowly survived a 1997 assassination attempt by Israeli Mossad agents disguised as street entertainers. Their lawyer says the case is purely political and that Hamas never broke an agreement it made with King Hussein to steer clear of domestic Jordanian affairs. “It is unfounded and repulsive that a fighting movement like Hamas should be something illegitimate,” says the lawyer, Saleh Armouti, who is also the head of the Jordanian Bar Association. Other dissenters say the king made his move under pressure from Israel and Arafat, and to win favor from the United States.
Clearly Abdullah expects to get something for his efforts. This week he is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Washington. High on his agenda: a hefty handout from Congress–as much as $200 million, which would make Jordan the second highest per capita recipient of U.S. aid, after Israel. Furthermore, Jordan is counting on the good will of both the Palestinians and the Israelis when they discuss the “final status” issue of the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel. About 1.5 million Palestinians live in Jordan, and Abdullah is happy to let them stay–provided Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak make it financially worth his while.
Ultimately, Abdullah may find himself with bigger problems than Hamas. Despite his efforts to jump-start the economy by boosting trade and foreign investment, most Jordanians are worse off than they were two years ago, when a cut in bread subsidies caused widespread rioting. “This country is full of people who are jobless, hungry and angry, who could resort to anything,” says Labib Kamhawi, a former adviser to King Hussein. “It is a recipe for disaster.” That is something that Abdullah will no doubt spend a lot of his time trying to avert.
