Jordan in secret talks with Hamas: Islamist

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

AMMAN (AFP) — Jordan's intelligence chief Mohammed Dahabi and Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal held secret talks in Amman last month, a leading Islamist said on Wednesday.

"Dahabi and (Syria-based) Nazzal met for talks in Amman two weeks ago," Zaki Bani Rsheid, secretary general of the key opposition Islamic Action Front (IAF) party, told AFP.

Bani Rsheid refused to give details about the meeting while government officials said they had no information about the alleged secret talks.

Relations between Hamas and Jordan have been rocky since 1999, when the Jordanian authorities expelled Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal and three other members of the Palestinian Islamist movement after a crackdown on the group.

An arrest warrant had also been issued...