AMMAN: The longest serving Jordanian prisoner in an Israeli jail arrived home on Tuesday, Jordanian officials said.
He completed a 20-year sentence for planting a bomb on an Israeli bus that injured more than a dozen people.
Abdullah Abu Jaber, 44, was arrested after the explosive device went off on the bus in Tel Aviv in December 2000. He was one of thousands of Jordanians who found casual work in Israel after the two countries normalized ties with a peace treaty in 1994.
Abu Jaber, who was among 22 political prisoners held in Israeli jails, headed to his parents’ home in the teeming Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp near the Jordanian capital Amman, witnesses said.
Separately, foreign ministry officials said Israel had dropped charges against two Jordanians who were arrested last month for allegedly crossing the border carrying knives. The authorities had put them on trial shortly after their detention.
Jordan, which has the longest border with Israel, is a close Western ally. Last month it saw large protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and its crackdown on Palestinian worshippers and protesters in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque.
Political ties between the two countries have been strained over Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, and the Jordanian government has faced growing public pressure to scrap the unpopular peace treaty.
Most of Jordan’s 10 million citizens are of Palestinian origin. They or their parents were expelled or fled to Jordan in the fighting that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948.
They have close family ties with their kin on the other side of the Jordan River in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Longest serving Jordanian prisoner in Israel arrives home: officials
https://arab.news/2pjek
Longest serving Jordanian prisoner in Israel arrives home: officials
- Abdullah Abu Jaber was arrested after the explosive device went off on the bus in Tel Aviv in December 2000
- He was one of thousands of Jordanians who found casual work in Israel
Arab League condemns Israeli settlers’ attack on mosque near Nablus
- The Arab League said that the targeting of religious sanctities is a dangerous escalation that undermines any international efforts aimed at achieving peace and stability
- The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs reported that settlers vandalized or attacked 45 mosques in the West Bank last year
LONDON: The Arab League condemned on Tuesday the burning of a Palestinian mosque by Israeli settlers during an attack on the village of Tell near Nablus, north of the occupied West Bank.
On Monday morning, settlers vandalized the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque by spray-painting offensive phrases and starting a fire, which left the place filled with black smoke and soot.
The Arab League said that the targeting of religious sanctities is a dangerous escalation that fuels hate speech and violence, undermining any international efforts aimed at achieving peace and stability, according to Wafa news agency.
It called on the UN to take concrete steps to stop these repeated attacks and ensure the protection of places of worship.
The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs reported that settlers vandalized or attacked 45 mosques in the West Bank last year.
The recent incident occurred as Muslims began observing the holy month of Ramadan last week, which continues into March. Israeli forces have increased their presence in the West Bank and around the city of Jerusalem, allowing only children under 12, men over 55, and women over 50 to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque.
