Less than a week ago, authorities in Jordan renewed the identification card of former Hamas political head Khaled Mashaal, who is a Jordanian citizen.
Three days later, on Monday, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official who is also a Jordanian citizen, told Iran’s al-Alam TV that Hamas leaders would go to Jordan if they were expelled from their exile in Qatar. He said Hamas is part of the Jordanian people and the Kingdom is its natural place.
For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.
The two incidents sum up the complex and long-standing relationship between Jordan and Hamas — a relationship that has been further complicated by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Provocative comments
Jordan viewed Abu Marzouk’s comments as provocative. Tehran likely pressured Hamas to make these statements on its airwaves after Jordanian air defense intercepted Iranian drones over Jordan’s airspace on their way to Israel. Angered by Amman’s move, Tehran indicated that it would not stay silent.
Those close to Hamas pointed out that Abu Marzouk’s comments were “not coordinated” with the group’s leadership, and that he spoke as a Jordanian citizen, and his country is his last refuge. That message was conveyed by “mediators” but Amman was further angered by the idea that Hamas members with Jordanian citizenship view the country as a hotel that they can return to whenever they want
Jordan’s condition for Hamas leaders returning to the country is that they relinquish their positions — as Hamas officials have done in the past.
Identity dilemma
The Jordanian identity dilemma appears to haunt and poses real challenges to the Kingdom. More than half of the leaders of Hamas — an non-Jordanian organization — are Jordanian citizens. As part of the Iranian system of influence in the region, Hamas has become a source of tension between Iran and Jordan. Those tensions had already reached alarming levels before Oct. 7, when the Jordanian army revealed attempts to smuggle weapons from Syria to the West Bank through Jordan.
At the time, Amman considered these attempts a violation of implicit understandings with Hamas under which Jordan was neutral concerning military activities in the West Bank. Jordan blamed Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’ top official in Lebanon and the contact point with Iran, who was assassinated by Israel in Beirut earlier this year.
Hamas has not valued Jordan’s position that Hamas “cannot be eliminated.”
Mashaal may be the most keen on calm tensions between Hamas and Amman. But observers close to Jordan’s monarchy say that Iran’s position is pressuring Mashaal. And he did not respond to Amman’s “positive messages” to Hamas concerning Israel’s war in Gaza. Hamas has not valued Jordan’s position that Hamas “cannot be eliminated” — a position reiterated by Foreign Minister Ahman al-Safadi.
Monarchy observers also note that the Kingdom was the first to initiate relief steps in the Gaza Strip, but Hamas responded to this effort with calls on Jordanians to protest. That led in some cases to clashes between protesters and security forces. They believe that Tehran was behind all of that.
Fears of transfer
Aside from concerns over Iranian pressure on Hamas, Jordan’s official position on the Israel-Hamas war stems from its fear of Israel’s attempts to transfer Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan. Hamas did not pick up Al-Safadi’s strong and unprecedented statements against the Israeli government to establish a different position toward Jordan.
Hamas’ view of Jordan as one of its arenas escalated tensions between the two sides.
It is true that Iran has influenced Hamas, but not like Hezbollah in Lebanon or other Iranian-backed groups in the region. Hamas has more interests in Jordan, which tilt the balance in favor of Amman over Tehran.
