Report: Reasons behind Jordanian measures against Hamas

The Jordanian weekly al-Maraa said that among the reasons that pushed the Jordanian government to take measures against the Hamas movement in Jordan is that several Hamas activists tried to assassinate the former chairman of the Israeli intelligence Danny Yatoum during his visit to Jordan two weeks ago.

The paper added, according to Jordanian circles, that despite the top secret measures that accompanied Yatoum's visit to Jordan, Hamas' cells in the Palestinian Authority discovered the news of the visit and told its offices in Amman about it. Immediately after the information arrived, the Hamas circles in Amman started planning to assassinate Yatoum, who played a key role in the foiled assassination attempt against the chairman of the political bureau of the Hamas movement in Amman, Khaled Mashaal.

The paper added that Yatoum arrived in Amman to offer his apology to Jordan over his role in the assassination attempt at the request of Jordan as a precondition to being permitted to visit Jordan.

Yatoum has recently been appointed as the official responsible for Israeli - Jordanian relations.

The Jordanian weekly added that Hamas leaders who were outside Jordan during Yatoum's visit welcomed the operation, which was planned quickly.

The mission to implement it was assigned to two Hamas members who live in Amman.