Jordan reportedly arrests 4 Islamists trying to smuggle weapons into West Bank

Four Jordanians allegedly belonging to Islamist movements were arrested last Thursday in Jordan while trying to smuggle weapons to Palestinians in the West Bank.

Arabic-language reports noted the story in the London-based Rai al Youm news site and the Beirut-based Al Akhbar newspaper. The sources also noted that Jordan retracted its rapprochement efforts with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that rules Gaza, following the incident. This latest arms-smuggling incident comes on the heels of Jordan’s recent indictment of Imad al-Adwan, a Jordanian member of parliament, on similar charges. Al-Adwan was reportedly caught by Israeli security forces at a border crossing in late April with 200 guns and turned overto Jordanian authorities.

Escalating clashes between members of armed Palestinian groups and the Israeli army 

The cross-border arms smuggling efforts come during escalating clashes between members of armed Palestinian groups and the Israeli army in the northern West Bank. On June 19, Israeli soldiers seeking to arrest suspects in the Jenin refugee camp clashed for hours with Palestinian gunmen, calling in helicopter gunships for support and killing six Palestinians.

Burned cars in the West Bank village of Al-Lubban, next to the Israeli settlement of Eli. According to Al-Lubban village residents, Israeli settlers attacked the village and burned a gas station and several cars, a day after a terror attack near the Israeli settlement of Eli. (credit: FLASH90)

A day later, Palestinian gunmen associated with Hamas killed four Jewish Israelis near the settlement of Eli,located 27 miles south of Jenin. Jordan’s relationship with Hamas has been fraught since 1999, when the Hashemite Kingdom severed ties with the Palestinian Islamist group and deported four leaders, including Khaled Meshaal, who would later become head of the organization’s political bureau. Two years earlier, Meshaal narrowly survived an attempted poisoning by agents working for Mossad, Israel’s external intelligence service. Meshaal’s bodyguards captured the Israeli agents and turned them over to the Jordanian authorities. Jordanian King Hussein then forced Israel to supply an antidote.

The Jordanian arrest of alleged Islamist gun smugglers comes while Hamas leaders, including current political bureau head Ismail Haniyeh, attempt to improve relations with the Hashemite monarchy. Recently, Gazans congratulated Jordan on the royal wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and praised Jordan’s mobile field hospital in Gaza. Hamas was looking forward to an official invitation to visit Jordan.

Jordan neither confirmed nor denied this most recent arrest of suspected gun smugglers. A Hamas spokesperson in Gaza who spoke to The Media Line denied the incident and said that relations with Jordan have not deteriorated.

Oraib Rantawi, director of the Amman-based Al Quds Center for Political Studies, told The Media Line that Jordan has dealt with attempts at arms smuggling across the Jordan-West Bank border for some time. He said Jordan would continue to arrest smugglers in keeping with the natural dynamic between sovereign countries and revolutionary movements. “I think this will pass and will not cause major problems but will weaken the confidence between both sides,” he said. “No one can change geography. Jordan has the biggest border with the West Bank, and Egypt has borders with Gaza. They must find solutions to manage their relationship with Palestinian movements.”

Retired Royal Jordanian Air Force Maj. Gen. Mamoun Abu Nuwar told The Media Line that Jordan must take a firm stance on smuggling weapons while keeping political lines open with Hamas. “Weapons smuggling is a continuous effort, but for Jordan, this is unacceptable. [It] is a red line.” At the same time, Abu Nuwar said, Jordan should make every effort to maintain open lines of communication with Hamas. “If there is open access, this will help keep Jordan and its interests safe.”

Over the years, various groups have called on Jordan to open a dialogue with Hamas. However, officials have rebuffed those calls, fearing the emergence of ties between hard-line Palestinian Islamists and their Jordanian counterparts. The relationship between Hamas and Egypt, which shares a border with Hamas-ruled Gaza, is similarly precarious. Several experts contacted by the Media Line preferred not to comment on the arrests until Jordan confirms them publicly.

JPost