Hamas has asked Egypt and Jordan to host its headquarters from Damascus, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said on Friday.  Such a move stems from recent pressure on Syria to close Islamic movements’ offices in Damascus.
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Apparently, both Egypt and Jordan have rejected Hamas’ request, Haaretz said.
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Leaders of the Islamic Movement in Jordan said the government intends to open channels with the movement if the situation in the Palestinian areas becomes stable and if Hamas joins the parliamentary elections slated for January.
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Jordanian Prime minister Adnan Badran said earlier that Hamas is an important part in the Palestinian political spectrum that can not be ignored, saying that his government does not in principle object dialoging with the movement.
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Currently, chief of the political bureau of Hamas Khaled Masha’al resides in Damascus.  Mash’al survived an assassination attempt by the Israeli Mossad in Amman in 1997.  Two Mossad agents entered Jordan using Canadian passport injected him with a poison, before they were captured by the Jordanian security forces. ÂÂ
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Mash’al survived after Israel provided and anti doze based on request Late King Hussein of Jordan. Israel freed the spiritual leader of Hamas Sheikh Ahmad Yassin as well, in exchange of the two Mossad agents.
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Yassin was assassinated in an Israeli air strike that targeted him directly while on his wheel chair coming out of the mosque in March 2004.
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Israel has intensified its attacks against Hamas and the Islamic Jihad fighters in the past couple of months.  Several of their activists have been killed and hundreds arrested through the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
