In bizarre twist, Palestinians demand Jordan reopen Israeli embassy

In a rare instance of aligned Israeli-Palestinian interests, Palestinian leaders are lobbying Jordan to reopen the Israeli embassy in Amman.

In a bizarre twist to what began as a tense diplomatic standoff between Israel and Jordan, Palestinians are demanding that King Abdullah II reopen the Israeli embassy in Amman. The Israeli government office has been closed since the end of July, when an Israeli security guard killed a Jordanian terrorist attempting a stabbing attack with a screwdriver.

After initially refusing to release the security guard, whose name Jordanians later leaked in a transparent to attempt to facilitate revenge by vigilantes, the 28-year-old Israeli was permitted to return to his homeland. When the guard received a warm welcome from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jordanians demanded a full criminal investigation into the incident, refusing to permit Israeli embassy employees to return without a trial for the guard.

The diplomatic shutdown in Amman apparently had unintended consequences, however, with hundreds of passports stuck in limbo in the shuttered Israeli embassy. According to Israel Hayom, the passports belong either to Jordanian citizens of Palestinian origin or businessmen connected with the Jordanian royal family.

These individuals are seeking Israeli entry permits to visit family or to close deals but can’t travel anywhere outside the Hashemite kingdom without their passports.

The standstill is apparently so problematic that it contributed to the Jordanian king’s decision to travel to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, notwithstanding the king’s demonstrated aversion to traveling to areas controlled by PA. Palestinian officials apparently wanted to pressure Abdullah to reopen the embassy.

While Jordan has had a peace treaty in place with Israel since 1994, the kingdom took a decidedly anti-Israel stance during the Temple Mount crisis in July, sparked by an Arab terror attack on the holy site. Despite the fact that a wave of Palestinian violence broke out after additional security was installed on the Temple Mount, Jordan appeared to blame Israel’s placement of metal detectors on the site – which were later removed – for the ensuing terror, including the slaughter of three family members in their own home in the Jewish community of Halamish.

By: World Israel News

Israeli embassy in JordanMahmoud Abbas