Tensions high as Jordan keeps Israeli security officer in country after fatal embassy incident
Tensions high following incident that lead to death of two Jordanians in Amman with details still unclear
Israel and Jordan were locked in their worst diplomatic row in years yesterday, following the shooting and killing of two Jordanians next to the embassy in Amman.
Jordan has refused to allow the shooter, an Israeli security officer, who was being treated in hospital for stab wounds, from leaving the country as it carries out an investigation.
The incident took place amid heightened tensions over security measures introduced by Israel at the Haram Al Sharif in East Jerusalem. Five Palestinians have been killed in clashes since metal detectors were introduced at the entrance to the site, ostensibly in response to a shooting attack this month that killed two Israeli police officers.
The security measures have raised fears that Israel is asserting its authority over the compound, which contains Al Aqsa Mosque, away from Palestinians.
The issue is a core tenet of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation, while Jordan is the official custodian of the site and is home to more than two million Palestinian refugees. The circumstances of the embassy shooting on Sunday remain unclear. Jordan is questioning the Israeli foreign ministry’s version of the events surrounding Sunday’s attack.
The ministry accused Mohammed Jawawdeh, a 17-yearold carpenter working at a residence near the embassy, of attacking the deputy director of security from behind with a screwdriver.
The security officer shot Jawawdeh dead and renowned Jordanian physician and orthopaedic surgeon Bashar Hamarneh was also killed in the gunfire. Jordanian security sources say they are questioning the Israeli officer over the circumstances surrounding Hamarneh’s death and the unclear order of events.
Whether the shooting was a revenge attack by the teenager or a misunderstanding that escalated, the incident highlights Jordan’s precarious peace with Israel.
The aftermath of an alleged shooting and stabbing attack near the Israeli embassy in Amman escalated yesterday into a diplomatic stand-off between Jordan and Israel.
Repercussions have increased tensions between the two countries that were already on a high because of Israel’s introduction of cameras and metal detectors at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem.
Two Jordanians were shot dead and an Israeli security officer wounded in Sunday’s incident, with the exact details and series of events unclear.
Jordan has prevented the Israeli officer, who is undergoing treatment for stab wounds in a hospital, from leaving the country so it can investigated the circumstances of the killings further. Israel yesterday demanded his immediate return, claiming he holds diplomatic immunity from investigation and imprisonment, citing the Vienna Convention.
The row began when Mohammed Jawawdeh, 17, a carpenter who worked in his father’s furniture store in Amman, was hired to repair and replace furniture in a flat rented to the Israeli embassy, next to the mission’s building, on Sunday.
Jordanian security sources have found that the Israeli foreign ministry’s version of events warranted an investigation.
The ministry said that Jawawdeh attacked the deputy director of the embassy’s security force from behind with a screwdriver and the officer shot him dead.
The landlord of the flat, Jorda- nian physician and orthopaedic surgeon Bashar Hamarneh, was also shot dead by the Israeli security officer.
Hamarneh seemed to have been killed accidentally, an Israeli official said.
Jordanian sources said the Israeli version of the circumstances of Hamarneh’s death and the order of events prompted them to order the Israeli security officer to remain in the country.
Conflicting reports claimed a third Jordanian, another carpenter, was also injured in the shooting, which Jordanian police officials said took place at the flat.
But media reports quoting Hamarneh’s family claimed that the shooting took place at the physician’s home near the embassy, not at the rental property.
Jawawdeh’s family, who in 1948 moved from the Palestinian village of Dawayima, near the West Bank city of Hebron, have demanded a full investigation and release of Israeli security camera footage around the embassy.
The Israeli embassy is on a hill in the west Amman neighbourhood of Rabiah. Private cars and taxis approaching it are stopped at several checkpoints, and many are turned back.
Neighbouring residents must also register their movements and vehicles with the Jordanian police.
Jordan has in the past managed to contain anger against Israel on the streets, stopping protests and pro-Palestine rallies from getting any closer than two kilometres away from the heavily protected embassy building.
Earlier protests held near the neighbourhood but within the permitted zone have been broken up by Jordanian police by force.
“All diplomatic institutions, including Israeli, are well protected in Jordan,” said Nabil Sharif, a former Jordanian information minister. “This is an isolated incident and the circumstances are not yet clear.
“We look forward to a solution to the aftermath of this situation that respects Jordan’s sovereignty and puts people who are involved in the incident in the hands of justice, in accordance to local and international law.”
The incident again highlights Jordan’s precarious peace with Israel, and the effects of the Israeli government’s policies on its neighbour.
Jordan has strong security ties with Israel which are often tested in times of tensions in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. The closure of the Israeli embassy in Amman and an end to the 1994 Wadi Araba treaty have been common demands by protesters in Jordan, particularly of demonstrations organised by the Islamist or leftist opposition.
Control of Al Aqsa mosque and the surrounding compound, known as Haram Al Sharif, remains a vital issue for Jordan. Under its peace treaty with Israel, Jordan is the official custodian of Haram Al Sharif and is home to more than two million Palestinian refugees.
Events in Palestine also echo among Jordan’s non-Palestinian tribes, many of whom have relatives who fought and died in the 1948 and 1967 wars with Israel and are strongly against the presence of an Israeli embassy in Amman.
came 48 hours after thousands of Jordanians protested across the country against security restrictions at Haram Al Sharif, with rallies in the capital, the cities of Zarqa and Karak, and the town of Salt.
On Friday, the Jordanian government sanctioned its imams to devote their Friday sermons to the issue of Al Aqsa and the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem.
The passionate sermons were well-attended and met vocal responses from the faithful.
In one sermon in west Amman, the imam referred to Zionist plots to take Palestine, urged a boycott of business with Israeli companies or government, and likened the stand-off over Al Aqsa to the betrayal of Muslims by a Jewish tribe in Medina in the seventh-century Battle of the Trench.