AMMAN, Jordan – Protesters fought with riot police Friday outside of the Israeli Embassy in Jordan, as some 2,000 demonstrators called on the kingdom to end its peace treaty with the country over the assassination of a Jordanian judge.
The death of Raed Zueter, a Jordanian magistrate of Palestinian descent, has caused an uproar in Jordan, triggering street protests and calls in parliament to annul the 1994 peace agreement with Israel.
On Wednesday, Jordanian MPs demanded the government free the Jordanian soldier Ahmad Musa MustafaDakamseh, expel the Israeli envoy in Amman and recall the Jordanian ambassador in Israel.
They gave the government until Tuesday to meet their demands, failing which they threatened a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur, who has said Israel is “completely responsible” for the “hideous” shooting and demanded an apology.
In February, Jordan’s parliament voted unanimously to expel the Israeli ambassador and recall its own envoy after Israeli lawmakers debated a proposal to take over a Jerusalem holy site administered by Jordanians. However, the vote was not binding and the Cabinet has yet to take any action on the request.
Jordanian jailed for killing Israelis on hunger strike
On the other hand, a Jordanian soldier serving a life sentence for murdering Israeli schoolgirls after they insulted and proveced him by making obscene gestures in 1997 is on a hunger strike to demand his release following the killing of a Jordanian judge by Israeli soldiers, his son said Saturday.
“My father started a hunger strike on Friday. He said he demands the government release him from jail after the Israelis killed Jordanian judge Raed Zeiter,” Ahmad Dakamseh’s son Seif told AFP.
“He is also refusing to take medicine for his high blood pressure and diabetes.”
Zeiter was shot dead earlier this week by Israeli criminal soldier at the Allenby Bridge border crossing. Witnesses said that Israeli soldiers had scuffled with Zeiter after he delayed in returning to his bus, and an Israeli soldier shot him three times in the chest after Zeiter pushed him.
“My father said he will not end his hunger strike until the government meets the demands of parliament as well as the public concerning the martyrdom of judge Zeiter,” Seif Dakamseh said.
On May 26, 1999, sources at the Jordan Bar Association said that Prime Minister Abdul Raouf Rawabdeh recently told the association’s president that the “government may decide to free ” the incarcerated rampager.
