President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday said the Palestinian government should dispatch a delegation to Jordan to tackle the seizure of arms Amman stressed were smuggled into the country by Hamas. “The information I got from Jordan was not just staggering, but also dangerous,” Abbas, on a visit to Russia, told Al Jazeera satellite channel. “I am convinced of what Jordan said, unless Hamas proves otherwise.”
Government Spokesperson Nasser Judeh yesterday reiterated that Jordan does not seek to “escalate the situation” and that Hamas should first dispatch a security team to uncover more hidden arms by the group in the country before any political talks between the two sides. Judeh was responding to statements by Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh that he was “still convinced that any meeting between the two parties must be political in order to address the future of relations.” Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar said Saturday he was ready to visit Jordan to defuse the row with Amman, but Judeh said there was a “security problem that must be solved first.” |