Jordan says Israel apologized for embassy shooting


Jordan and Israel appeared on Thursday to be putting behind them a diplomatic crisis triggered by the killing last summer of two Jordanians by an Israeli embassy guard.

"Israel and Jordan have reached an agreement over the shooting incident which occurred at the Israeli embassy in Amman in which an Israeli security guard killed two Jordanians," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. "The Israeli embassy in Jordan will return to full operation immediately," the statement added.

"Israel and Jordan have reached an agreement over the shooting incident which occurred at the Israeli embassy in Amman in which an Israeli security guard killed two Jordanians," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

"The Israeli embassy in Jordan will return to full operation immediately," the statement added.

In July 2017, an Israeli security guard shot dead two Jordanian workers in a residential building for Israeli embassy staff after he was stabbed by one of them with a screwdriver.

According to the statement, the two countries also reached an agreement over a shooting incident in March 2014 when a Jordanian judge was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers at the Allenby Bridge Border Crossing between Israel and Jordan.

"Israeli authorities will continue to investigate the material relating to the incident in July 2017 and are expected to reach a decision in the coming weeks," the statement said.

"Israel attaches great importance to the strategic relations with Jordan, and the states will act to promote cooperation between them and to strengthen the peace agreement."

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani was quoted by the state news agency Petra as saying that Jordan's Foreign Ministry had on Thursday received an official memorandum from the Israeli Foreign Ministry in which it expressed regret and apologized to Jordan over the shooting incident at its embassy.

"The memorandum expressed the Israeli government's commitment to resume cooperation with the government of Jordan and resolve this issue," Momani said.

The shooting strained ties between the neighboring countries which signed a peace agreement in 1994 and cooperate on security and energy issues, among others.

Israel's ambassador went back to Israel along with the guard and other embassy staff after the incident and Jordan subsequently said it would not permit the return of an Israeli ambassador to Amman unless Israel launched legal proceedings against the guard. The guard, who claimed self-defense, had received a hero's welcome in Israel, infuriating the Jordanians.