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Jordanian Islamists, Hamas avoided contacts in Amman 'to signal separate ways'

By by Taylor Luck AMMAN -- Amidst the publicity surrounding His Majesty King Abdullah's reception of Khaled Mishaal this week, the meetings which have garnered the most scrutiny during the Hamas leader's first official visit to the country in over a decade were the ones that had never been arranged.

Excuses ranging from travel itineraries to state pressure, observers view the fact that a meeting with Islamist movement was left off the itinerary of Mishaal's historic visit as a sign of two political movements on the rise.

Mishaal and an accompanying delegation representing the movement's political office declined to meet a single official from the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Hamas' ideological and longtime sister organisation.

The Jordanian Islamist movement offered conflicting reasons behind the lack of meetings between the two sides, citing obstacles ranging from inclement weather to the late Monday evening return of Hamzah Mansour and Hammam Saeed to the Kingdom from a visit to Cairo.

But according to a source within Hamas, the movement avoided any meetings with its sister organisation in compliance with an "understanding" with authorities barring the delegation from any political activities during the three-day visit -- a theory supported by Zaki Bani Rsheid, head of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) politburo.

The absence of encounters with peers in Amman has less to do with conflicting travel arrangements and state-sponsored pressures than with the possibility that the two groups are disengaging in a sense.

With Hamas moving towards reconciliation with Fateh and preparing for potential legislative elections, analysts said the Amman visit offered the movement a rare opportunity to demonstrate its independence as a political organisation to Jordanian decision makers and public.

"The visit was an important recognition by Jordanian decision makers that Hamas is a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The movement did not want to obscure this message by appearing to interfering in Jordanian affairs," said Ibrahim Darrawi of the Cairo-based Centre for Palestinian Studies.

"The Muslim Brotherhood is coming to an understanding with the Jordanian government on different levels. It doesn't want to send mixed messages by having two separate branches meeting on the side."

Some suspect that the Muslim Brotherhood's Cairo-based mother organisation wanted the Jordanian "brothers" to remove any doubt that the IAF, the group's political arm, is truly an independent "Jordanian" movement.

"This was a conscious decision to send a clear message that Hamas represents the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic Action Front represents the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan and there is a clear borderline between the two," said Omar Kullab, Ad Dustour columnist and political observer.

Amidst indicators that the Kingdom's largest opposition movement is gearing up for potential participation in political life and upcoming parliamentary elections, observers say leaders were wary that a high-profile photo-op with Hamas' political chief would send the wrong message to potential voters sceptical of the movement's nationalist credentials.

"The last thing Jordanian Islamists want in this political climate is to appear that it has connections to a foreign entity," Kullab noted.

Observers say the "snub" came due to fears that ties with Hamas will drive yet another wedge between the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood movement and governorates-based popular movements, whose relations have been frayed over recent weeks due to rumours that Islamist movement allegedly supports the so-called alternative homeland for Palestinians in Jordan and the naturalisation of Palestinians in Jordan after dropping their right to return to their lands in Palestine.

"There have been clear attempts by certain individuals to depict the Islamist movement as a non-Jordanian movement, and there are some who believe that a meeting with Hamas would have played into this narrative," said Maher Abu Teir, Ad Dustour columnist and political observer.

"This was a conscious political manoeuvre, not a sign of friction between the two sides."

Divisions

Observers view the lack of contacts between Hamas and Jordanian Islamists during Mishaal's visit as a sign of complex and emerging changes within the ranks of the Islamist movements' leaderships.

With the Jordanian Islamist group facing internal elections at the end of February and set to embark on a series of internal reforms designed to make the organisation more politically competitive, observers say Jordanian Islamists and Hamas leadership avoided any official or private meetings out of fear of dragging up "age-old divisions".

"Hamas is still a potent political ally and a polarising presence within the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, and it is going to play a large role in deciding who will become the next leaders of the movement," said Ibrahim Gharaibeh, Al Ghad columnist and expert in the Islamist movement.

As Jordanian Islamists begin jockeying for positions ranging from membership in the movement's executive office to the overall leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Kingdom, observers say being seen with Mishaal or other members of the movement's executive office could make or break a candidate's political fortunes.

"As Hamas did not want to be seen as favouring any certain candidates, there was a well-thought out decision on both sides to avoid any meetings altogether," Gharaibeh said.

Others attributed the lack of meetings to internal divisions within Hamas, namely a split between the movement's Gaza leadership and Mishaal's Damascus-based politburo over central issues including participation in legislative elections, armed resistance and the acceptance of a Palestinian state on 1967 borders.

With Hamas still forming its positions on a series of issues and the implementation of reconciliation with Fateh, Jordanian Islamists agreed unanimously to forego any meetings out of respect that Mishaal is not the sole representative of the Palestinian resistance movement, according to a source close to the Islamist movement.

"There is still an ongoing debate within Hamas over its future course and Jordanian Islamists did not want to be seen as supporting one side or one voice in this debate," said the source.

While differing over the core reasons, analysts agree that the lack of contacts during the high-profile visit came out of the hope that the next time Hamas leadership and Jordanian Islamists come face-to-face, the meetings will be in an entirely different setting.

"There is a belief within the Muslim Brotherhood that if the movements focus on their separate paths now, they will find themselves leading separate governments along the Jordan River in the future," Gharaibeh said.

© Jordan Times 2012