Fatal shootings cast long shadow over relations
AMMAN, Jordan — Zakariya al-Jawawdeh often visits the grave of his 16-year-old son, Mohammed, watering plants and reciting a prayer. His trips to the cemetery, just a few steps from his home in Jordan’s capital of Amman, also stoke frustration that his son’s killer, an Israeli Embassy security guard, has not been held accountable.
The furniture store owner’s grievances are entangled in one of the most toxic diplomatic crises since Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994, only Israel’s second with an Arab country.
The relationship — typically low-key, but strategically important — has been “hit hard” on all levels by the July 23 shooting, next to the Israeli Embassy complex in Jordan in which the Israeli guard also killed his middle-aged Jordanian landlord, said a Jordanian official.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which says the guard acted in self-de fense after the teen attacked him with a screwdriver, declined comment on potential damage to the relationship. Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said Israel will share the eventual results of an ongoing investigation with Jordan, but he would not describe the type of inquiry under way.
Even during the current crisis, core elements of the relationship remain in place.
Security cooperation continues against shared enemies, such as Islamic extremist groups, but at a reduced level, said the Jordanian official.
But other endeavors have suffered.
The third phase of a program to employ Jordanians in Israeli hotels is on hold, said Shabtai Shay, head of hotel association in Israel’s Red Sea resort of Eilat.
A conference on water and energy cooperation, scheduled for October in Jordan has been put off, said Gidon Bromberg, Israeli co-director of EcoPeace Middle East, the organizer.