Palestinian Minister for Civil Affairs Jamil Tarifi on Monday backed Jordan in its standoff with Qatar over Amman's refusal to allow a Hamas leader exiled to Doha to enter the kingdom, said AFP.
"We believe that what happened is provocation against the Jordanian government, carried out by certain parties in order to embarrass the Jordanian government," Tarifi told reporters in Amman.
"We do not accept this behavior and we stand alongside Jordan in its sovereign position," Tarifi said.
Hamas spokesman Ibrahim Ghoshe, who was deported to Qatar in November 1999, arrived in Jordan unexpectedly Thursday aboard a Qatar Airways plane from Doha.
But Jordan denied Ghoshe entry to the country and vowed to keep him at Queen Alia Airport until Qatar agreed to fly him back to Doha.
Ghoshe, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, was deported along with three other Hamas leaders after the Jordanian government listed Hamas as an illegal organization.
Jordan has repeatedly said the four would be allowed to return to Amman only if they renounced their Hamas membership.
Meanwhile, on the diplomatic front, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa declined to confirm if the pan-Arab body was undertaking any specific mediation bid between Jordan and Qatar.
However, he added on the sidelines of an Arab ministerial meeting in Amman: "We (Arabs) are all working to contain any problem that could undermine inter-Arab relations."
Jordan's Information Minister Saleh Kallab on Sunday told reporters that Libya alone was mediating an end to the crisis, but added that it had not made any progress – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
