Jordan prevents Palestinian activities

The London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat daily said on Thursday that the Jordanian authorities prevented two remarkable Palestinian figures from carrying out activities in the refugee camps in Amman.

Jordanian sources told the paper that the Jordanian government prevented the activities of two members of the central committee of the Fatah movement: Hani al-Hassan, who was prevented from visiting several Palestinian camps and meeting with its representatives, and Abbas Zaki, who was also prevented from holding an al-Iftar banquet for orphaned children in al-Baqaa camp, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan.

The paper quoted Jordanian and Palestinian sources as saying that disputes that recently erupted between the two sides have no relevance to the Arab position in general towards the question of the refugees, rather what Jordan has called the interference made by Palestinian organizations and political sources in its own affairs through carrying out political activities in the camps.

The sources stated that there are other reasons behind halting the activities of the Fatah leaders in the refugee camps. Among these reasons are the ideas debated by al-Hassan on proposed solutions to settle the question of the refugees, including settling them in Jordan.

However, other sources said that preventing political activities by al-Hassan and Zakli in the camps falls in the course of a Jordanian - Palestinian accord that provides that the Palestinian government will ban the activities of the Fatah movement in the Jordanian camps in return for Jordan's banning of any political activities carried out by Palestinian opposition groups in these camps.