WHAT HAMAS IS -- AND ISN'T -- IN JORDAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002094


STATE FOR NEA, S/CT
LONDON FOR TUELLER, PARIS FOR ALLEGRONE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/6/01
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV PINS KPAL KISL JO IS
SUBJECT: WHAT HAMAS IS -- AND ISN'T -- IN JORDAN

REF: A) AMMAN 1993; B) 95 AMMAN 4285 (NOTAL)


1. (U) CLASSIFIED BY CHARGE ROBERT BEECROFT; REASON 1.5 (D).


2. (C) THERE IS NO/NO EVIDENCE TO LINK EITHER HAMAS
SPOKESPERSONS IBRAHIM GHAWSHAH OR MUHAMMAD NAZZAL TO OPERATIONS
CONDUCTED IN ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES BY HAMAS'
MILITARY WING. EMBASSY LIKEWISE HAS NO EVIDENCE TO VALIDATE
CONTENTIONS THAT THERE IS A CLANDESTINE LEADERSHIP GROUP
OPERATING IN JORDAN LINKED TO TERRORIST ACTIVITIES IN JERUSALEM,
THE TERRITORIES OR ISRAEL. THERE REMAINS NO DECLARED HAMAS
PRESENCE IN JORDAN BEYOND THE INFORMATION OFFICE. WHILE HAMAS
POLITICAL FIGURES SUCH AS MUSA ABU MARZUQ VISITED JORDAN IN THE
PAST, USUALLY TO SEE FAMILY MEMBERS RESIDENT HERE, SUCH VISITS
WERE STRICTLY CONTROLLED BY JORDANIAN INTELLIGENCE. THERE IS
SOME ANECDOTAL INFORMATION THAT HAMAS COURIERS CARRY CASH BETWEEN
JORDAN AND THE WEST BANK AND GAZA. JORDANIAN AUTHORITIES HAVE
SEVERAL TIMES NOTED THE DIFFICULTY OF MONITORING THE PASSAGE OF
SUCH FUNDS AND/OR IDENTIFYING BANK ACCOUNTS USED BY HAMAS.


3. (U) JORDANIAN OFFICIALS ARE INCENSED OVER RECENT ALLEGATIONS
BY PA OFFICIAL NABIL SHA'TH LINKING JORDAN TO THE RECENT SPATE OF
HAMAS BOMBINGS IN TEL AVIV AND JERUSALEM. KING HUSSEIN, CROWN
PRINCE HASSAN AND PRIME MINISTER ABD AL-KARIM AL-KABARITI HAVE
ALL ISSUED STRONG STATEMENTS CONDEMNING THE BOMBING. FURTHER, ON
MARCH 4 THE GOJ DISPATCHED MINISTER OF INTERIOR AWAD KHLAYFAT AND
MINISTER OF WATER SAMIR QA'WAR TO GAZA WITH A MESSAGE FROM THE
KING TO PALESTINE AUTHORITY (PA) LEADER ARAFAT REPORTEDLY
UNDERSCORING JORDANIAN SUPPORT FOR THE PA AND THE NEED FOR
GREATER JORDANIAN-PALESTINIAN COORDINATION TO COUNTER THE "WAVE
OF MILITANT VIOLENCE" THREATENING THE PEACE PROCESS.


4. (C) THE GOJ IS CLEARLY ANXIOUS TO AVOID ANOTHER WAR OF WORDS
WITH THE PALESTINIANS OVER THIS SUBJECT. LAST YEAR, THEN-FOREIGN
MINISTER KABARITI REPEATEDLY DENIED ALLEGATIONS OF COLLUSION WITH
HAMAS OR TOLERATION OF ACTIVITIES BEYOND THOSE OF ITS INFORMATION
OFFICE (AND THEN ONLY WITHIN EXTREMELY STRICT LIMITS). AFTER A
DRAMATIC REMINDER TO SPOKESMAN IBRAHIM GHAWSHAH LAST APRIL OF
WHAT THE GOJ WOULD ALLOW, THE GOJ IN MAY DEPORTED HAMAS OFFICIAL
IMAD AL-ALAMI, AT THE TIME HEAD OF THE HAMAS OFFICE IN TEHRAN AND
CURRENTLY HEAD OF HAMAS' OFFICE IN DAMASCUS, IN ADDITION TO
POLITICAL OFFICE DIRECTOR ABU MARZUQ (NOW IN THE U.S. FACING
EXTRADITION TO ISRAEL).


5. (C) AS EMBASSY EARLIER REPORTED (REF B) THE GOJ, WARY OF
CREATING A CAUSE CELEBRE FOR THE JORDANIAN OPPOSITION AND
CONCERNED WHETHER THE PROSECUTION OF JORDANIAN CITIZENS WOULD
STAND UP IN COURT, OPTED TO KEEP THE INFORMATION OFFICE AND ITS
PERSONNEL UNDER CLOSE SURVEILLANCE. APART FROM PROVOCATIVE
SOUND-BITES, WHICH ARE NOT NEARLY AS INFLAMMATORY AS THEY WERE
BEFORE APRIL 1995, BOTH GHAWSHAH AND NAZZAL HAVE MAINTAINED LOW
PROFILES. INDEED, MFA SECRETARY GENERAL IBRAHIM NAGHAWI
GENERALLY DOWNPLAYED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HAMAS OFFICE IN JORDAN
IN A CONVERSATION WITH CHARGE ON MARCH 6, THOUGH HE INDICATED
THAT JORDANIAN AUTHORITIES CONTINUE TO WATCH BOTH MEN. IN A
MARCH 5 MEETING WITH THE CHARGE, ISRAELI DCM JACOB ROSEN AFFIRMED
THAT ISRAEL FEELS SECURE IN THE FACT THAT JORDAN HAS HAMAS "FULLY
COVERED."


6. (C) IN THE WAKE OF THE PA'S MOST RECENT ALLEGATIONS OF
JORDANIAN COMPLICITY IN HAMAS MILITARY WING OPERATIONS, MANY
OBSERVERS ANTICIPATE A CRACKDOWN BY THE GOJ, POSSIBLY IN RESPONSE
TO U.S. OF ISRAELI PRESSURE. AN INFORMED EMBASSY SOURCE TOLD
EMBOFF THAT THE CRACKDOWN COULD INCLUDE THE POSSIBLE
"DEPORTATION" OF PERSONS SUSPECTED OF MAINTAINING LINKS WITH
HAMAS OPERATIVES IN THE TERRITORIES. GOJ OFFICIALS HAVE,
HOWEVER, PUBLICLY DISCLAIMED ANY "OPERATIONAL" CONNECTIONS
BETWEEN HAMAS SYMPATHIZERS IN JORDAN AND MILITANTS ON THE OTHER
SIDE OF THE JORDAN RIVER. INTERIOR MINISTER KHLAYFAT TOLD THE
ARABIC-LANGUAGE DAILY "AL'RA'I" THAT HAMAS MEMBERS IN JORDAN "ARE
JORDANIANS WHO HAVE NO RELATION WITH TERRORISM OR WHATEVER IS
HAPPENING IN ISRAEL OR THE PALESTINIAN SELF-RULE AREAS." HE
CHARACTERIZED "THE PEOPLE WHO MAN THE HAMAS OFFICE IN AMMAN" AS
"JORDANIAN CITIZENS WHO ACT IN A PEACEFUL MANNER SUBJECT TO
JORDANIAN LAWS." SIGNIFICANTLY, THE MINISTER ADDED THAT THE GOJ
COULD NOT "DEPORT JORDANIAN CITIZENS -- THAT'S AGAINST THE LAW."


7. (C) JORDANIAN AUTHORITIES' SENSITIVITY ABOUT BEING PORTRAYED
AS OTHER THAN COMMITTED TO THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM MAY PROMPT
THE GOJ TO HEIGHTEN ITS SURVEILLANCE OF HAMAS' OFFICE AND
PERSONNEL IN JORDAN AND TAKE WHATEVER ACTION IS DEEMED BOTH
APPROPRIATE AND PRUDENT. AS IT HAS SHOWN IN THE PAST, THE GOJ
WILL, IF NECESSARY, DISREGARD OBJECTIONS THAT MIGHT BE RAISED BY
THE OPPOSITION. CROWN PRINCE HASSAN, IN ANNOUNCING A HEIGHTENED
STATE OF ALERT IN JORDAN MARCH 5, INDICATED THAT JORDAN WOULD DO
WHATEVER IS NECESSARY TO PRESERVE PUBLIC SECURITY WITHIN ITS
BORDERS.

BEECROFT