WINEP: Jordanian autorities' "passivity" strenghtens Hamas faction within MB...

WINEP's agents of sedition hard at work! 

WINEP/ Here

"In early September, three senior leaders of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood (MB) resigned from the organization's executive bureau after it voted to dissolve the MB political department -- one of the few remaining components of the organization controlled by moderates. The resignations were a protest against not only the executive bureau's decision, but also the MB's increasingly close affiliation with Hamas. Today, the Jordanian MB is facing an unprecedented internal crisis, pitting the traditional moderate East Bank leadership -- Jordanians who are not originally Palestinian -- against the powerful pro-Hamas Palestinian-led element. Lately, these divisions have been aggravated by Hamas political bureau head Khaled Mashal's apparent efforts to exploit the shifting balance of power within the MB to further his own organization's agenda in Amman. Ironically, Jordanian authorities -- who have long prided themselves on managing the Islamist issue -- have done little to stem the tide.......

...... Mashal is clearly focused on Jordan and deeply involved in the kingdom's and the MB's internal affairs. Indeed, in the struggle between Hamas and reformists, Mashal has offered himself as a mediator. Because Mashal is essentially a party to the conflict, however, it is difficult to see how he could serve as an impartial mediator. Nevertheless, if he does eventually mediate, Mashal will increase his political clout, enabling him to dominate Jordan's MB and use it to further the Hamas agenda...........

While it remains to be seen how the internal debate will unfold, the near absence of official Jordanian intervention to date has been striking. Indeed, the moderate reformist group that led the MB from 2006 to 2008 appears to have been weakened the most by the state's passivity in the face of the Hamas takeover of the MB. Perhaps this was intentional; after all, government-sponsored election irregularities in the 2007 municipal and parliamentary elections resulted in a Hamas-wing boycott of the balloting. Because this wing of the MB didn't actively participate, the reformists lost the elections. Had they won, reformists would today be in the parliament and the dominant group within the MB.

The Jordanian state can still intervene and prevent Mashal from strengthening his grip on the Jordanian MB. Given the stakes, Amman should start viewing developments within the MB as an issue of state security. For the Jordanian monarchy, it is time to radically rethink its MB strategy."