Jordan persists in assigning criminal intentions to Hamas while the movement strives to ensure law and order at home, reports Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank Under strain of crippling Israeli and Western sanctions, the beleaguered Palestinian Hamas-led government this week faced a new wave of accusations coming from Jordan, alleging that Hamas has been planning to assassinate Jordanian officials and attack vital Jordanian strategic interests. The charges are added to an earlier set of accusations, announced last week by Nasser Judeh, spokesperson of the Jordanian government, claiming that Hamas associates were smuggling "missiles" from Syria into Jordan for the purpose of attacking "certain targets". Infuriated by the "brazen mendacity" -- to use the words of Palestinian government spokesperson Ghazi Hamed -- of the Jordanian allegations, Hamas accused Jordanian intelligence of "concocting these lies" in order to sully Hamas's image and to conceal or excuse Jordan's purported involvement in American-Israeli efforts to isolate and eventually topple the Islamist Palestinian government. In a written statement issued Tuesday, Hamas stated: "We are confident that the Jordanian people are fully aware of the total falsehood and mendacity of these charges." Further frustration came for Hamas when Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas seemed implicitly to accept the veracity of the allegations, describing the charges "shocking and dangerous". One Hamas official close to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh remarked to Al-Ahram Weekly that, "we really don't know if [Abbas] believed what he was saying, or if he was so naïve that he took the fabrications of Jordanian intelligence at face value." The vast bulk of Palestinian media -- including Fatah-dominated newspapers --scoffed at the allegations. Some political analysts pointed out that the real motive behind the Jordanian verbal assault is Jordan's apprehensions of the "negative and harmful ramifications" of a successful Islamist Palestinian government. Jordan's Islamist opposition draws much of its support from Palestinians who make up over half of Jordan's population. Meanwhile, the showdown between Hamas and Fatah continued as Abbas made an implicit threat to dissolve the government, and if necessary the parliament, if Hamas persists in its refusal to accept Quartet conditions for maintaining contact with the new government. These conditions include the unconditional recognition of Israel, acceptance of all prior agreements between the PA and Israel, and abandoning armed struggle. For its part, Hamas has been saying that it is ready and willing to discuss these points; only that it will not do so under duress and that it will not proceed if reciprocal recognition from Israel is not forthcoming. Khaled Meshaal, Hamas's politburo chief, was quoted this week as saying that Hamas would agree to reach "peace with Israel" if the Jewish state agreed to relinquish its hold on the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Similarly, Haniyeh said this week that his government is "willing and ready" to put an end to violent resistance if and when Israel stops all attacks on Palestinians, including the truncation of the West Bank into isolated enclaves and Bantustans. Hamas's statements, however, viewed as reasonable and just by nearly all Palestinians, including many Fatah leaders, seem to be falling on deaf ears in Israel, within the Bush administration, and within the circles surrounding Abbas. Last week, Tayeb Abdul-Rahim, President Abbas's secretary-general, dubbed Hamas a pseudo-Islamic movement, accusing Hamas leaders of seeking to drag the Palestinian people to civil war. One Hamas leader retorted quickly, "we are not sure if he was aware of what he was saying," a snide allusion to Abdul- Rahim's alleged drinking habits. The seriousness of the situation was nonetheless underlined when armed Fatah cadres stormed government offices, ministries and municipal buildings in the West Bank. "I think these riots and lawless activities are part of a plot to destabilise the government," said Ahmed Youssef, a political advisor to Haniyeh. Faced signs of rebellion by some Fatah militias -- especially in Gaza -- who refer to themselves as "members" of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's armed wing, the Hamas government acted swiftly this week, arresting a number of Fatah gunmen who broke into buildings and fired into the air. The arrests were welcomed by ordinary Gazans, long tormented by acts of lawlessness by anonymous gunmen. Overwhelming public support forced Fatah to issue a "clarification", distancing itself from "these elements". A Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesperson said the government would maintain law and order at any price. "We will not allow these gangsters and hoodlums to foster chaos in society and gamble with the future of our people. From now on, any aggression on public peace and order will be confronted forcefully and stringently." Meanwhile, Prime Minister Haniyeh visited Al-Azhar University in Gaza Monday, urging students not to replicate tensions between the government and the PA's leadership on campuses. "You must show maturity; this is not the way civilised people, let alone college students should behave," said Haniyeh. His remarks came two days after students from the Fatah-dominated university hurled stones at students at the adjacent Hamas-dominated Islamic University. One reliable Palestinian security source intimated to the Weekly that certain "suspicious elements" -- an allusion to Israeli-supported informers and provocateurs -- sought actively to intensify the clash between Fatah and Hamas in the hope of igniting some form of a civil war. Some had reportedly shouted, "Death to Meshaal!" and "Meshaal is an Israeli collaborator!" The absurdity of these slogans sadly underscores the tribal nature of the seemingly interminable feud between Hamas and Fatah, both movements forgetting that the Palestinians still languish under Israeli military occupation -- the only party that would benefit from an internal Palestinian implosion and the requisite damage it would do to their enduring and just cause.
