Jordan increased security measures during prayers in Amman on Friday

November 26, 1999
Web posted at: 8:43 p.m. EST (0143 GMT)

In this story: 'We have to protect our sovereignty' 'One day things will burst' RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Correspondent Jerrold Kessel

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- Jordan's King Abdullah is receiving praise from Israel and the United States for exiling leaders of the anti-Israeli group Hamas.

Jordanian authorities Sunday deported to Qatar four top members of the Islamic fundamentalist organization, which is opposed to peace with Israel. The four were Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshal, spokesman Ibrahim Ghosheh and politburo members Abdul Aziz al-Umary and Sami Khatter.

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Correspondent Jerrold Kessel reports on Jordan's expulsion of Hamas leaders (November 26) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

With this move, Amman has effectively slammed a political door in the face of Hamas, forcing the group to do without its closest potential operating base to Israeli occupied territories.

"For us, this is the end of the story," said Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Ayman al-Majali. "This is a political solution. We believe we have to protect our sovereignty. We have to protect our country."

Some opposition elements see the action against Hamas as King Abdullah weighing in at a critical moment in Middle East peacemaking. But they wonder whether it might not also be risking Jordan's long-nurtured internal stability.

"Maybe there's no turmoil now," said Lieth Shubeilat, of the Jordanian publication "Islamist." "But definitely the positions of the government are charging the people, and one day things will burst. You cannot go all the time against your people's wishes to please others' wishes."

Meshal, left, and Ghosheh arrive in Qatar on Sunday after being deported from Jordan

The government insists Jordan wasn't trying to please other nations by deporting the Hamas leaders.

"Not pressure at all," said al-Majali. "This is our decision. It is for the interest of Jordan, and we took the action because of that."

In parliament, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdur-Ra'uf S. Rawabdeh compared the threat of Hamas to Jordan's stability to the Palestine Liberation Organization when it operated out of Jordan in the 1960s and '70s. That comparison worried Jordanian Palestinians.

"He was blackmailing Jordanians of Palestinian origin by trying to remind Jordanians of 1970 -- by trying to associate the opposition to what he did to the Hamas leadership with loyalty to the country," said Labib Qamhawi, a political analyst.

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