AMMAN, Jordan — Signaling a thaw in relations, Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Sunday hosted Khaled Meshal, the leader of Hamas, who made his first official visit to the country since his expulsion more than a decade ago in a crackdown on the militant Islamist group.
The visit was part of a Jordanian effort to play a more prominent role in Middle East diplomacy and engage with Islamists who have become a rising political force following revolts that have unseated autocratic leaders across the Arab world.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, is contemplating relocating its political headquarters from Syria, which has been shaken by a popular uprising against President Bashar Assad, long a patron of the Palestinian group’s exiled leadership.
Meshal’s visit to Amman was arranged with the mediation of Qatar, and official Jordanian announcements described him as accompanying the Qatari crown prince, Sheik Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, in his talks with the king.
Abdullah is a key American ally in the region, and assigning Meshal secondary status appeared to be not only a matter of protocol but a nod to sensitivities in Washington and in Israel, where Hamas is considered a terrorist organization because of its deadly attacks on Israeli civilians. Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.
Meshal, who heads the political bureau of Hamas, has been based in Damascus since he was deported and his group banned in Jordan in 1999. But he has spent recent weeks moving around the Middle East, effectively abandoning Syria, where the upheaval has led to the departure of senior Hamas officials.
