JORDAN has lodged a formal protest with the Israeli government over the harassment of a Jordanian parliamentary delegation by Jewish settlers in the West Bank town of Hebron.
Jordan's ambassador to Israel, Mr Omar Rifai, presented the formal complaint to the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Tel Aviv yesterday, and demanded a comprehensive investigation into the incident.
A group of Jewish settlers, shouting "Death to Arafat", heckled Jordanian deputies visiting Hebron and its Ibrahimi mosque on Saturday. The delegates, led by the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Abdul-Hadi al-Majali, and their Palestinian escorts had to run to their cars and drive off as Israeli soldiers restrained the settlers, who were returning from Sabbath prayers.
Mr Majali, who returned to Amman yesterday after a three-day visit to Palestinian-ruled areas, chaired a parliamentary meeting in the Jordanian capital to discuss the incident.
Mr Majali said deliberate provocations started when Israeli guards at the Ibrahimi mosque insisted on searching the legislators who wanted to enter the mosque to pray. He said Israeli soldiers present did not intervene and some soldiers even cursed the Jordanians and Palestinians.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, secured cabinet-level approval yesterday to uproot rogue Jewish settlements in the West Bank, political officials said. However, the Palestinian Authority said even Israeli eviction of settlers from newly occupied sites in the West Bank would not satisfy the Palestinian demand that all Jewish settlements were illegal and must be removed under a final peace agreement.