Return of Exiled Hamas Leaders to Jordan PossibleThe Jordanian government has sent very positive signals over the return of four exiled leaders of Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, according to a prominent Jordanian lawyer.President of the Jordan Bar Association (JBA) Saleh Armouti said Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb had raised very positive viewpoints that could solve the case out of the court, the semi-official English daily Jordan Times reported on Saturday. The four, headed by Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal, are all of Palestinian origin and hold Jordanian passports. They were exiled and flown to Doha, Capital of Qatar in November 1999, following weeks of clamp-down on the movement by the Jordanian government then headed by Prime Minister Abdel Rauf Rawabdeh. Rawabdeh ordered the close-down of all Hamas offices in the kingdom, and charged the Hamas members with illegal possession of weapons and conspiracies to undermine the security of the desert kingdom. Mashaal and his colleagues had filed a law suit last June to a Jordanian court to overturn the government decision to exile them, but the appeal was rejected by the court. They have decided to file a second appeal at the Jordan's Higher Court of Justice soon after the current Muslim and new year holidays. Lawyer Armouti said he will also make last-ditch efforts to mediate with the government before entering a legal battle over the return of his clients. During an earlier discussion, the prime minister said that the Hamas members "do not face any security restrictions" in the kingdom, a remark which Armouti believed reflected a desire by the government to seek political channels for the possible return of the Hamas leaders, Jordan Times said. Hamas remained opposed to any peace talks with Israel and stands for a holy war to liberate all Palestinian territories occupied by the Jewish state during successive Middle East wars. Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 and has been a major peace mediator between Israel and its Arab neighbors. |
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