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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: May 15, 2006 |
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Jordan said Sunday it wanted the Palestinian government to send a team to search for more weapons believed to be stashed in the kingdom by Hamas activists - rebuffing another offer to receive the Palestinian foreign minister.
Government spokesman Nasser Judeh said Jordan "would like the Palestinian government to send a security team ... capable of disclosing additional information and other hidden weapons ... which threaten (Jordanian) national security."
"All this must take place before any political contacts with the Palestinian government are initiated," Judeh said, rejecting an offer by Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar to visit the kingdom.
Zahar told reporters Saturday that he was "ready to go to Jordan, even tomorrow, to clarify the situation."
It was Jordan's second snub of Zahar, a top Hamas leader in Gaza, since a giant arms cache was found April 18. The kingdom canceled a visit by Zahar which was scheduled to happen the following day.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Sunday his Cabinet was "astonished" by Jordan's response.
"We believe that any meeting should be a political one in order to solve, discuss and look at the future of the relations," he said.
"We have said many times before that we have no intention and no policy (in Hamas) against Jordan and the security of Jordan, or against any Arab country," said Haniyeh, also a top Hamas leader in Gaza.
Last month, Jordanian authorities discovered a huge arms cache, including Iranian-made Katyusha rockets and anti-tank missiles, that Hamas activists allegedly stockpiled for use in attacks against Jordanian public institutions and officials.
Jordan's claims of the plot have further deepened a longtime rift between the kingdom, which has signed a peace treaty with Israel, and Hamas, which refuses to recognize the Jewish state.
The militant group has carried out a campaign of violence against Israel, but is not known to have conducted attacks outside the country and insists it has no intention to take its fight beyond the borders.
More than 20 people have been arrested in the past month, three of whose confessions aired on Jordanian state television. One of the suspects said he acted under direct orders from Hamas leaders in neighboring Syria, but Hamas has denied the charges. |
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