BICOM

A 38-year-old Palestinian man with Jordanian citizenship was shot dead yesterday by Israeli soldiers at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Israel and Jordan after he reportedly attempted to snatch a soldier’s weapon.

The Allenby Bridge transit terminal for Palestinians and foreign nationals, known in Jordan as the King Hussein Bridge, is operated by Israel usually without incident. However, an Israeli army statement said yesterday’s shooting occurred after “a Palestinian attempted to seize the weapon of a soldier at the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan. In response the forces at the scene opened fire towards the suspect. A hit was identified.” Ofer Lefler, spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority which is responsible for operating all border crossings, told AFP, “A 30-year-old Palestinian man who crossed the bridge attacked a soldier, who shot him.”

Palestinian officials later identified the dead man as 38-year-old Raed Zeiter from Nablus in the West Bank. Jordanian authorities also confirmed his identity and said Zeiter worked as a judge at a magistrate’s court in the capital Amman. Israeli paramedics arrived quickly at the scene of the shooting but were unable to revive Zeiter. The Palestinian Authority condemned the shooting and called for an “international investigative committee to probe this incident.”

Yesterday evening, around 200 people demonstrated outside the Israeli embassy in Amman demanding that the Jordanian government expel the Israeli ambassador. According to the Guardian, the crowd chanted “We don’t want a Zionist embassy on Jordanian territory! Down with the peace agreement [between the two countries].” Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994 and have enjoyed a largely friendly and cooperative relationship ever since then. According to Reuters, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh met with an Israeli diplomat following the incident and requested that Israel investigate and inform the Jordanian government of the result.