U.S. Tries to Keep Hamas Official Out of Country : Immigration: Case complicated by the fact that Gaza native has resident-alien status--won during a lottery.

The United States moved Thursday to keep a leader of Hamas, the militant Muslim resistance group, from entering the country on grounds that he had engaged in known or suspected terrorist activities, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials said.

Mousa abu Marzuk, described by Justice Department officials as the organization’s political chief, has been detained since Tuesday, when he tried to enter the United States at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, because his name appeared on a “hot lookout” database maintained by the INS.

The INS, in court papers, said of Abu Marzuk: “The applicant appears to be an alien who has engaged in terrorist activity. The applicant appears to be an alien who a consular officer or the attorney general knows or has reasonable grounds to believe is likely to engage after entry in any terrorist activity.”

Abu Marzuk presents special problems to immigration authorities because he is a U.S. resident alien--he won the status in a 1990 government lottery--who has lived in the United States for several years and thus cannot be stopped from returning to his suburban Virginia home without court proceedings.

Further complicating the matter is that Abu Marzuk returned on a flight from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates via London only a day after a massive bomb was set off on a Tel Aviv bus. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed six Israelis and injured 31. U.S. officials declined to discuss whether they know of or suspect any link between that bombing and Abu Marzuk, who was born in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

He has traveled on a Yemeni passport in the past, U.S. officials said. But his wife and four children, who accompanied him, are American citizens. His family was allowed to enter the United States, according to law enforcement officials.

Stanley Cohen, Abu Marzuk’s lawyer, said in New York that it was “remarkable that a person who has lived quietly and successfully for 14 years in the United States, paid his taxes and has never even gotten a traffic ticket has all of the sudden become the head of Hamas.”

Abu Marzuk has been in and out of the United States a number of times over the past few years, a Justice Department official said. He studied engineering in the United States and worked at the United Assn. for Studies and Research in Virginia.

Israeli experts painted a dark picture of Abu Marzuk, describing him as the head of the six-member Hamas political bureau and as the group’s link with Iran and Hezbollah (Party of God) in Lebanon. Israel’s Ministry of Justice is now preparing documentation on Abu Marzuk’s alleged anti-Israel activities, possibly to seek his extradition, Israeli officials said.

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“Israel will provide the proper information on this person to the U.S. Department of Justice,” an Israeli official said. “All options are being considered by Israel. As one of the acknowledged leaders of Hamas, Abu Marzuk is one of the principle organizers of attacks on Israel.”

Abu Marzuk was described by former classmates from Colorado State University at Ft. Collins, where he did graduate work in engineering in the early 1980s, as a moderate voice within Hamas.

“He talked of a truce with Israel and about an end to the killing of Israeli civilians,” said Ahmad Yousef, editor of Middle East Affairs Journal, published by the United Assn. for Studies and Research.

In Gaza, a Hamas official condemned the action against Abu Marzuk. “This is a serious precedent, an unjustified step. It comes as an attempt to tighten the ring on the Islamic movement,” Imad Faiouji told the Reuters news service. “America must be impartial or neutral in the Arab-Israeli conflict. This step serves the Israeli program. It does not contribute to stability in the area.”

Hamas has vowed to sabotage the Arab-Israeli peace process, one of the Clinton Administration’s most important foreign policy initiatives.

Abu Marzuk was deported from Jordan on June 1 and has since been traveling around the Middle East, with unconfirmed reports that he visited Yemen, Iran, Iraq and Sudan, Israeli sources said.

In recent years, he has made several trips to Iran, where he met with ranking officials, including President Hashemi Rafsanjani.

By attempting to exclude Abu Marzuk rather than to deport him, INS authorities place the burden of proof on him to demonstrate why he should be admitted to the country.

No date has been set for an immigration court hearing in New York.

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In some 1997 stories, and stories from 2001 onward, Mousa abu Marzuk is referred to as Mousa abu Marzook.

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