Meshaal granted entry to Jordan

The Jordanian government allowed the President of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Khaled Meshaal, to enter the Kingdom to visit his ill mother. Abdullah Abu Rumman, the Jordanian Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications, told AFP that "the Interior Minister Mazen Saket has allowed to Mr. Khaled Meshaal to enter Jordan on humanitarian reasons to visit his ill mother for a limited period." This is the second time that Meshaal has returned to Jordan since his deportation in 1999. Meshaal visited Jordan in August 2009 to attend his father’s funeral. Khaled Mashaal survived a Mosaad assassination attempt in Amman in 1997. Amman has not officially received any Hamas members since it deported five of its leaders, including Mashaal, to Qatar in 1999. Meshall later settled in Syria. Tensions increased between Jordan and Hamas in 2006 when Jordan accused the movement of smuggling arms from Syria to Jordan. Sources told Arabstoday that Hamas member, Mohammad Nazzal, also returned to Jordan two months ago after agreeing with Jordanian officials to stay out of political life and not issue statements to the media.