Hamas political bureau member harassed at Jordanian border

Member of the political bureau of the Palestinian Hamas movement Muhammad Nazzal was held for four hours at Jordan's al-Ramtha border center upon his arrival from Damascus last week after he took part as the Hamas representative in the works of the Palestinian opposition conference held in Damascus.

The Jordanian weekly al-Majd said that Nazzal was released only when chairman of the movement's political bureau, Khaled Mishal, made several contacts with Jordanian officials, resulted in permitting Nazzal to return home to Amman.

The paper indicated that the Jordanian government had prevented three leaders of the Hamas movement and some 50 Jordanian and Palestinian political figures from leaving Amman two weeks ago for Damascus to attend the conference.