Arrests indicate al-Qaeda targeting Jordan

JORDAN: The arrest in Jordan of a Libyan and three Iraqis plotting bomb attacks indicates that the Hashemite kingdom, a British creation and US ally, is now facing a new set of enemies bent on its destruction.

These are non-Jordanian jihadis belonging to al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the militant group founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian tribesman who tops the US list of most wanted in Iraq.

His group carried out the bombings that devastated three hotels in Amman last November. According to the Mukhabarat, Jordan's internal intelligence agency, several other plots originating outside the country have been foiled this year.

Since the Baathist regime in Iraq was toppled by the US and Britain in 2003, Jordan has been caught between the chaos of Iraq and the instability of the Palestinian West Bank occupied by Israel in 1967. Half a million Iraqis have poured into Jordan, where Palestinian refugees outnumber native Jordanians, who fear being swamped and taken over.

Between 1970 and 1971 the Jordanian army prevented Palestinian guerrillas from seizing control. Nevertheless, in 1982 Ariel Sharon, then Israel's defence minister, spoke of transforming Jordan into "the Palestinian state" which could absorb Palestinians squeezed out of the West Bank by Israel.

Although Amman signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, Jordanians remain uncertain of Israel's intentions. They were outraged last week when Maj Gen Yair Naveh, head of the Israeli army's central command, warned that King Abdullah could be ousted by Palestinian Muslim militants.

Native Jordanians could pose a greater danger. Hamas's success in the Palestinian parliamentary election is encouraging Jordan's influential Muslim Brotherhood to press the king for representation in government.

The brotherhood has been a loyal supporter of the monarchy since 1957 when republican army officers attempted a coup against the late King Hussein.

Its political arm, the Islamic Action Front, with 17 seats in the 110-member parliament, is the largest opposition faction and dominates the influential professional associations.

Moderate members of the Front strongly oppose a draft law banning parties with religious foundations.

Inspired by Hamas's new government role in Palestine, Azzam Huneidi, the assertive head of the parliamentary bloc, argues that the movement is "mature enough to take on government responsibilities".

The radicals, closely connected with Hamas, are challenging moderates for leadership of the movement. Hamas, regarded as a foreign movement, was suppressed in 1999, and its leaders, including current politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, expelled.

But the most unsettling element consists of native Jordanian jihadis who do not belong to the well-organised and disciplined brotherhood. Instead they adhere to the revolutionary approach of Sunni purists, or salafis, who condemn Zarqawi's bloody operations in Iraq.

Young, undereducated, unemployed and alienated by poverty, such men can be found everywhere in Jordan. They are cannon fodder for charismatic figures driven by a dream of a new caliphate embracing Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and Syria.