Jordan prevents Ghoushe from entering Jordan
Jordan, Politics, 6/15/2001

The Jordanian authorities on Thursday prevented the official spokesman for the Islamic resistance movement ( Hamas) Ibrahim Ghoushe from entering the country upon his sudden arrival at Amman's airport coming from Doha (Qatar), where he was deported to in 1999 together with other three officials at the said movement.

The Jordanian official news agency Petra quoted a governmental source as saying that the specialized authorities at Queen Alia international airport were surprised on Thursday afternoon on the arrival of engineer Ibrahim Ghoushe, the spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement "Hamas" to be on the board of the plane belong to the Qatari airlines coming from Doha in a flight number "40-4."

The Jordanian source added that the " airport's authorities immediately told engineer Ghoushe that he will not be able to stay in the country, and this is according to a prior agreement with the government stated not to permit one who is not Jordanian to practice a political activity from inside the Jordanian territories."

The Jordanian governmental source expressed its " regret" over the behavior of the captain of the Qatari plane who said " he was strongly instructed by the Qatari government not to return back engineer Ghoushe to Doha."

Sources at Amman's airport said that the Jordanian authorities refused to permit the Qatari plane to take off without Ghoushe, but news reports said that the plane returned back to Doha and that Ghoushe stayed at the airport. But navigation sources at the airport denied that, saying that the plane is still landing on the ground and that its captain left it announcing the return flight to Doha.

Meantime, the Jordanian authorities prevented the representatives of the various mass media from approaching the Queen Alia airport, which is 35 km to the south of the capital Amman.

The Qatari satellite TV station al-Jazira quoted the chairman of the political bureau of Hamas Khaled Mashaal who is at the meantime in Doha as saying that the Jordanian authorities prevented Ghoushe from entering Jordan under the pretext "he is not Jordanian." Mashaal considered that the return back of Ghoushe to Jordan is a natural matter, as he ( Ghoushe) is committed to his right as a Jordanian and that no government's order has the right to play in the fate of peoples," noting that that the movement ( Hamas) simultaneously does not seek to launch a battle with the Jordanian authorities.

Worthy mentioning that the Jordanian authorities in November 1999 instructed the deportee of four leaders of the Hamas movement, carrying the Jordanian nationality. They are Ghoushe, Mashaal, Sami Khater and Ezzat al-Rashaq after they were accused of carrying out acts that evoke " instability" in the country and of belonging to a non- Jordanian organization carrying illegal political activities inside the Jordanian territories and called on them to give up the Jordanian nationality if they are willing to return back to Amman or to give up their organizational activities in the Hamas movement.

Previous Stories:
  Attempts to settle the conditions of Hamas leaders   (1/15/2001)
  A row in the Jordanian parliament over evacuation of the Palestinians   (1/5/2001)
  Hamas leader Mashaal and the Islamic summit   (11/16/2000)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search