The Islamic movement in Jordan is witnessing unprecedented internal friction, writes Oula Al-Farawati in Amman After being dealt a heavy blow in Jordan's national elections, coupled with internal and external political tensions, the Islamic Movement in Jordan is facing the biggest internal crisis in its history. The movement, which has survived several crises, including its rout in recent municipal elections and ongoing conflicts with the government, is now facing internal rifts which according to analysts will change the status-quo inside the movement for years. Mohamed Abu Rumman, a political analyst specialising in Islamic movements, believes the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan is living its "worst nightmare" with the decision of Hamas to form the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood and align itself away from the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, whose members carry the Jordanian nationality. "Hamas has sent the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood a message telling them that they no longer are the Palestinian Brotherhood outside Palestine," Abu Rumman said. The analyst believes the Brotherhood has developed new factions that transcend the historical classification of hawks and doves and can be classified into a pro-Jordanisation bloc and a pro- Hamas bloc. However, political analyst Majid Tobeh believes the Muslim Brotherhood's major dispute emanates from its failure in the elections, which saw the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, losing more than half of the 17 seats it had in the previous parliament. The IAF, which fielded 22 candidates in the polls, won only six seats in the new legislature. "The Islamists' loss in the elections, their internal frictions and a tense relationship with the government are further deepening the rift within the movement," Tobeh said. After the elections, the Muslim Brotherhood dissolved its Shura Council, the highest decision- making authority within the movement. At the time, Islamists said the decision was meant to allow the movement to put its house in order. But Tobeh believes the dissolving of the council was a result of a deep rift between the hawks and the doves over the latter's decision to take part in the elections, which were clearly stacked against the IAF and which the hawks described as a "massacre". According to an informed source, the hawks are attacking the doves for partaking in the elections without receiving promises that the polls would be fair. The hawks were upset that the candidates the IAF fielded in the elections were chosen without proper consultation with "the bases and the masses and members of the movement". In the run-up to the elections, many of the party's long-time leaders shunned rallies to drum up support for IAF candidates. Zaki Bani Rsheid, the IAF secretary--general and a hawk, also boycotted several election events by the IAF and voiced discontent with the candidate list that ran in the elections. The relationship with the authorities is also a source of friction within the movement. While some see that a conciliatory tone might ease the tension with the authorities, the hardliners, now stronger within the movement, are calling for a stiffer stance against the government. Last year saw the authorities publicly working to limit and weaken the movement. Hamas was loudly accused of smuggling arms into the kingdom. Four members of the outgoing legislature, all Islamists, were imprisoned because of alleged "disrespect of the state". The heaviest blow to the movement was dealt when the government dissolved the board of the Islamic Society, the financial arm of the movement, in June 2006, for alleged corruption. This decision was followed by a similar one that dissolved the board of the Islamic Hospital, the icon of the Islamic movement's social work. Currently, the rift within the movement is hushed and denied by its members. However, the Muslim Brotherhood and the IAF are unusually quiet in the media. Analysts Abu Rumman and Tobeh believe the rift will manifest itself in the upcoming Shura Council, slated for March. "I believe we can already see some electioneering being done within the wider bases. The polarisation, mobilisation, and lobbying of different factions are clear," said Tobeh. "The one thing that everyone agrees about is that the government intentionally rigged the elections to sideline the Islamists," he added. Tobeh expects that the hardliner bloc will enjoy a landslide victory after the doves' defeat in the internal elections. Publicly, Abu Rumman says that movement has lost some of its strongholds and support, especially after failing in the elections, but he believes it will keep playing an important role on two fronts: the representation of the "Islamic current" in Jordanian society and among Palestinians in Jordan. For the movement to stay strong, analysts believe it should regain its posture and restructure its social role within a society that suffers the twin ills of unemployment and poverty and seeks refuge in religion and nationalism.
