Amman Embassy Reopens Following Israeli Apology To Jordan

Israel reopened its embassy in Amman Jordan on Tuesday morning (Jan. 30, 2018), seven months after an incident in which an Israeli security guard shot dead two Jordanian citizens.

“The embassy in Jordan is gradually opening up,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nachshon announcing the end of the diplomatic standstill between Israel and Jordan.

A staff of Israeli workers is already back in Amman, mainly for maintenance and cleaning tasks, but no new ambassador has yet been appointed.

The Foreign Ministry is still looking for an ambassador to serve in Amman after Israel agreed that the previous ambassador, Einat Schlein would not return to Jordan and a new ambassador would be appointed in her place.

The reopening of the embassy comes after Israel said last week that it would pay Jordan $5 million in compensation and apologize to the government in Amman for the incident in which an embassy security guard, Ziv Moyal, shot dead 17-year-old Mohammed al-Juoda after he attacked Moyal with a screwdriver from behind while delivering furniture to his apartment.

A second Jordanian man, the landlord of the apartment died after being hit by ricochet from shots fired by Moyal. The apology and compensation also cover a previous incident three years earlier, in March 2014, when Ra'ed Zeiter, a Jordanian judge of Palestinian Authority origin, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers at the Allenby Bridge border crossing after trying to grab a security officer's gun.