A deadly shooting at Israel’s embassy in Jordan on Sunday evening further complicated Israeli government efforts to find a way out of an escalating crisis over Jerusalem’s most contested holy site.
The shooting, in which an Israeli security guard killed two Jordanians after being attacked by one of them with a screwdriver, came as a US envoy headed to the region to try to defuse the crisis over the shrine.
The trip by US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt was the first sign of a high-level, on-the-ground involvement by the US to end the standoff between Israel and the Muslim world.
Photo: AFP
Greenblatt is to coordinate his efforts with Jared Kushner, the US Department of State and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
The Israeli daily Haaretz said Greenblatt was to arrive yesterday.
Jordan is the Muslim custodian of al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, which is also revered by Jews and has played a key role in efforts to end the standoff.
The shooting at Israel’s embassy in Amman is bound to raise friction between the two nations and further inflame Jordanian public opinion against Israel.
The Amman shooting took place in a residential building used by the embassy staff, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that it began when two Jordanian workmen arrived at the residential building to replace furniture.
One of the workers, identified by Israeli media as a 17-year-old of Palestinian origin, attacked an Israeli security guard with a screwdriver, the ministry said.
The guard opened fire, killing the teen, the media reports said, while a second Jordanian, the owner of the building, was hit by gunfire and later died of his wounds.
The Israeli guard was lightly hurt, the reports said.
Israeli media said Jordan has demanded to conduct an investigation and has prevented Israeli embassy staff from leaving the premises. Jordanian government officials were not immediately available for comment.
The Israeli foreign ministry did not refer to a possible standoff in its statement, but said the guard has diplomatic immunity under international conventions.
An Israeli government official would not say whether the security guard was being prevented by Jordanian authorities from leaving the kingdom.
He said talks were under way whether to evacuate the embassy staff, given the tensions in Jordan.
Either all or none of the staff would be evacuated and that the security guard would not be left behind, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Israel’s security Cabinet met for six hours from late on Sunday until the early hours yesterday to discuss the crisis at the shrine and was briefed during the meeting about the incident at the embassy, the ministry said.
It reached no decision on how to defuse the crisis over the Jerusalem shrine, Israeli media said.
The ministers were reportedly reviewing the initial decision on installing the metal detectors and weighing possible alternatives.
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