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AMMAN — Saudi Arabia on Tuesday praised the efforts of the Public Security Department (PSD) and all its personnel for their cooperation with the Saudi border authorities in foiling most smuggling attempts into the Gulf country.

During a meeting with PSD Director Gen. Tawfiq Tawalbeh, Saudi Ambassador to Jordan Sami Bin Abdullah Al Saleh discussed ways of boosting bilateral security cooperation.

Tawalbeh said Jordanian-Saudi cooperation in protecting their shared border, fighting drug trafficking and exchanging information has made it harder for dealers to smuggle narcotics across the border.

AMMAN — The “Nulabbi Al Nidaa” (we answer the call) initiative on Monday concluded the fourth day of a campaign where Saudi and Egyptian doctors performed reconstructive surgery on Syrian refugees in a hospital in Amman.

The Saudi initiative’s field coordinator, Bremeh Tueimi, said the patients were chosen in coordination with active partners in Jordan after field visits to identify the most urgent cases.

“Nulabbi Al Nidaa” is supervised by Saudi Prince Turki Bin Talal and serves Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

AMMAN — Border guards received 383 Syrian refugees during the past 24 hours, who entered through non-official entry points along the northern border, the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) said on Tuesday.

A statement by the JAF’s Morale Guidance Department said most of the new refugees are women and children, and also included some injured people and patients in need of medical assistance.

Over 600,000 refugees have taken refuge in Jordan since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011.

AMMAN — Tweeps on Tuesday said the government should be involved in the investigation into the killing of Jordanian Judge Raed Zuaiter by Israeli troops, slamming the official response to the incident.

In several Twitter posts on Monday and Tuesday, Jordanians said the government should not simply accept the results of the Israeli investigation without being involved.

They said the government should take a firm stance on the murder of the judge at the King Hussein Bridge by Israeli soldiers on Monday, by expelling the Israeli ambassador and recalling Jordan’s ambassador from Tel Aviv.

“The Lower House and the government face a serious test at present and need to demonstrate a strong stand,” Safwat Haddadin (@SafwatHaddadin) tweeted Tuesday.

Maher Hmoud (@MaherHmoud1) said “killing a Jordanian judge by #Israel will pass, like many things do.”

“The weak government should be dissolved after the death of Zueiter,” Aya Alkam (@ayaalkam) tweeted.

Calls for expelling the Israeli ambassador from Amman, annulling the 1994 peace treaty with Israel as well as recalling the country’s ambassador from Tel Aviv went viral on Twitter as tweeps shared pictures of Zuaiter.

Hesham Shawa (@hkshawa) said there should be a joint investigation, adding that finding out what happened should be easy since there are surveillance cameras at the border crossing that can reveal what exactly happened.

Paying condolences to the family and relatives of the judge, tweeps dismissed the initial Israeli account of the incident as “nonsense”.

“Israel’s account of the story is imaginary and does not make any sense,” tweeted Ahmad Slem (@Slem-1987).

A preliminary investigation by the Israeli army claimed that the judge attempted to snatch a weapon and “strangle” a soldier, Agence France-Presse reported.

But Palestinian witnesses said the man was shot following an argument over a cigarette, the news agency reported. 

AMMAN — MPs delivered strongly worded and emotional speeches during Tuesday’s Lower House session, demanding a firm response to the killing of Jordanian Judge Raed Zuaiter by Israeli soldiers on Monday.

The government reaction to the incident was the focus of most speeches delivered by the deputies who spoke during the three-hour session.

They demanded that the government expel the Israeli ambassador to Amman and recall the Jordanian ambassador from Tel Aviv.

The heated session also witnessed an attempt to burn the Israeli flag by a visitor in the gallery.

Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh ordered security personnel to deal with the situation, describing such behaviour as an “attempt to prevent the Lower House from taking a strong position through constitutional channels”.

Security personnel moved quickly and managed to prevent the attempt, escorting the visitor, who is said to be a lawyer, outside the chamber.

Dozens of audience members in the gallery were members of the Jordan Bar Association or activists who participated in a sit-in outside Parliament earlier in the day.

MPs also demanded that the government recommend issuing a special pardon for Ahmad Daqamseh, a Jordanian soldier who is serving a life sentence for killing seven Israeli schoolgirls in the Baqoura area near the Jordanian-Israeli border in 1997. 

Deputies also called for annulling the peace treaty with Israel.

“Unless the government meets our demands, we must proceed with a petition of no-confidence vote,” veteran MP Abdul Karim Dughmi (Mafraq, 1st District) said.

Other deputies supported his proposal. 

Nine blocs representing a majority in the Lower House delivered speeches at the beginning of the session, after which independent MPs started their speeches, but Tarawneh decided to adjourn the meeting to Wednesday as the total number of MPs who wished to take the podium was too high for one session.

Also on Tuesday, the Senate called for opening a joint “neutral” investigation into the incident, stressing the need to put an end to Israeli “disrespect” and hold the perpetrators accountable. 

In a statement, the senators also urged the government to follow up on the “heinous” crime and take the necessary measures to ensure the safety of Jordanians passing through crossing points to the West Bank and Israel, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

In addition, political parties, human rights groups, universities and associations denounced the killing of the Amman Court of First Instance judge, describing the act as “cowardly”. 

They called for forming a special court to try Israeli leaders and those involved in such atrocities and urged the government to expel the Israeli ambassador to Jordan. 

Moreover, they urged Arab and Muslim states to cut their political, diplomatic or economic ties with Israel, according to Petra.

Protests were held early Tuesday at the Palace of Justice, where Zuaiter worked, and in front of Parliament to protest against the killing. 

AMMAN/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Tuesday said that the Israeli government was “completely” responsible for the “hideous” shooting of a Jordanian judge at the border crossing between the Kingdom and the West Bank.

“The Jordanian government holds the Israeli government completely responsible for the hideous crime,” Ensour told MPs at a meeting in Parliament to discuss the shooting that took place on Monday.

He insisted “the Israeli government’s excuses do not justify that treacherous act.” 

The Israeli military claimed troops opened fire after Raed Zuaiter attacked them and tried to steal one of their weapons.

But a Bethlehem-based eye witness who was a few metres away from the 38-year-old judge when he was shot and killed at close range refuted the Israeli account, noting that Zuaiter reacted to the humiliating treatment and pushed back an Israeli soldier before he received three bullets to his chest from him and another soldier (See separate story).

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights also disputed the Israeli account, saying that one of the soldiers pushed Zuaiter after he had disembarked from a bus with other passengers so that Israeli soldiers could search it.

Israel expressed “regret” Tuesday over the death of Zuaiter, but did not apologise.

“Israel regrets the death of Judge Raed Zuaiter yesterday at the [King Hussein] Bridge and expresses its sympathies to the people and government of Jordan,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, according to Agence France-Presse.

Jordan demanded that the soldiers involved be punished.

“After investigations, tough measures should be taken against those responsible for the shooting,” Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani told Jordan Television. 

“We are talking about an unarmed Jordanian civilian being killed on the other side of the border. All Jordanians are angry and have the right to know what happened,” he said.

Ensour told deputies that the Kingdom has pressured Israel to “formally apologise”, adding that Jordan is now part of the probe into the shooting.

“The way Jordan will deal with the development of this issue depends on how Israel acts on it in line with the final results of the investigation.”

Israel’s Haaretz and Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli government also agreed to a joint Jordanian-Israeli investigation. 

The Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli charge d’affaires a day earlier in Amman to protest the shooting of Zuaiter and ask for an immediate investigation into the incident.

The government started its own investigation Tuesday.

Amman Attorney General Judge Ziad Dmour on Tuesday asked Prosecutor General Judge Abdullah Abu Ghanam to immediately open an investigation into the shooting of Zuaiter during his private visit to the Palestinian territories. 

Meanwhile, Judicial Council President Hisham Tal condemned the crime and said the council is following up on the issue with the government and the Palestinian authorities, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

AMMAN/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/NABLUS — Jordanian people, government and Parliament reacted with anger over the killing of Jordanian Judge Raed Zuaiter by Israeli soldiers on Monday. 

The incident drew a strong statement from Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, who said that Israel takes all the blame for the “heinous crime”.

He insisted that “the Israeli government’s excuses do not justify this treacherous act”. 

The premier was speaking at a House meeting, during which several MPs took turns speaking against the killing, demanding the government abolish the 1994 peace treaty with Israel, expel the ambassador and release a Jordanian soldier, Ahmad Daqamseh, who has been in jail for 17 years for killing female Israeli students in the Jordan Valley.

Several MPs agreed to press ahead with a motion to withdraw confidence from the government if it does not respond firmly to the Israeli actions. 

The lawmakers will continue the discussion on Wednesday. 

While the judiciary started a separate investigation in Amman, Israel expressed “regret” Tuesday over the shooting of the judge at the crossing bridge, but its army insisted he had attacked soldiers and tried to grab a gun.

An eyewitness speaking to The Jordan Times over the phone from Bethlehem refuted the Israeli account, stressing that the 38-year-old jurist, who was laid to rest in Nablus on Tuesday, only reacted to an Israeli soldier who insulted him by pushing him.

Tel Aviv also agreed to Jordan’s request to carry out a joint probe into the incident.

An Israeli diplomat told Israeli army radio that Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh used harsh language when he summoned him to the ministry Monday. 

The angry reactions that started immediately after the word spread of the killing of Zuaiter continued on a larger scale and with a sharper tone on Tuesday, with hundreds of lawyers and judges staging a sit-in at the main court building in Amman (see story on page 3).

The Senate called for opening a joint “neutral” investigation into the incident, stressing the need to put an end to the Israeli “disrespect” and hold perpetrators accountable. 

Parties, human rights and legal organisations, universities and associations denounced the killing of the Amman Court of First Instance judge. 

They called for forming a special court to try Israeli leaders and those involved in such atrocities and expelling the Israeli ambassador to Jordan. 

In addition, they urged Arab and Muslim states to cut their political, diplomatic and economic ties with Israel.

Hundreds of Palestinians turned out Tuesday for the funeral of Zuaiter, accompanying the body — which was wrapped in a Jordanian and Palestinian flag — to its burial place in the West Bank town of Nablus, where he had been heading to visit relatives.  

“They killed my only son in cold blood,” said his father Ala-Eddine, a retired Jordanian judge, who had travelled from Amman.

“My son was unarmed; he wouldn’t even know how to use a weapon.”

AMMAN — More than 65 per cent of refugees fear they may not be able to go back to Syria despite desperately wanting to return, according to an Oxfam survey. 

Oxfam researchers surveyed 151 households of refugees in three areas of Jordan representing 1,015 people. 

"While the overwhelming majority of refugees want to return to Syria, just a third of those questioned said they could clearly see themselves returning home. Of these refugees, 78 per cent still said that they did not know when this would be," the aid agency said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times. 

Now, with the conflict entering its fourth year, Oxfam said the international community must urgently help end the crisis so refugees and displaced people inside Syria can return home, and start to rebuild their lives. 

“The Jordanian government and host communities have been incredibly generous. But with the number of refugees now topping 580,000, Jordan needs strong support from the international community to ensure that people affected by the crisis can live in dignity,” said Geoffrey Poynter, country director of Oxfam’s office in Jordan. 

"Governments around the world need to provide sufficient funds for the humanitarian response so refugees and host communities have access to basic services including water and sanitation, food, shelter, healthcare and education,” the statement quoted Poynter as saying.

Refugees were surveyed in Zarqa, Balqa, the Jordan Valley and Jawa, with researchers using electronic handheld data capture for interviews.

“The survey shows that for many refugees hope of returning to Syria sometime soon is dwindling. They are living in limbo, battling each day to survive, with little idea of what the future holds. That must change. Syrians deserve better than this,” said Andy Baker, Oxfam’s regional response director for the Syria crisis.

“Renewed efforts must urgently be made by the international community to help stop the bloodshed and bring an end to this devastating conflict which has destroyed so many lives. It’s time for the next round of the Geneva peace talks to start — and for real and lasting progress to be made around the negotiating table this time,” Baker added. 

The humanitarian response to the crisis has called for unprecedented levels of aid so far. The UN has appealed for a record-breaking $6.5 billion, which under-estimates the true scale of the need, Oxfam said. 

"A total of $2.3 billion was pledged at the Kuwait donor conference in January, but so far, just 12 per cent of the appeal ($768 million) has been delivered by donor countries since the launch in December," the statement said.

The aid agency voiced concern that unless donor countries find the money "desperately needed" to fund the humanitarian response, then Syrians — both inside Syria and in neighbouring countries — will lack the food, water, shelter, medical care and education they need. 

“Plans for a long-term recovery need to be drawn up as even if the conflict were to end tomorrow, Syrians would need assistance for years to come. We urge donor countries to give generously to the UN appeals to help ensure Syrian people — both inside Syria and in neighbouring countries — have the humanitarian assistance they need,” the statement quoted Baker as saying.

“In particular, significant support is needed for neighbouring countries. Basic services in countries such as Jordan and Lebanon are stretched to the limit with schools and health clinics responding to meet the dramatically increased demand,” he added. 

Oxfam has helped an estimated 900,000 people affected by the crisis across Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. 

In Jordan, Oxfam is working with refugees in both the Zaatari Refugee Camp and host communities by providing water and sanitation facilities, hygiene promotion and waste management, according to the statement. 

“No one can go back to our village, it’s too dangerous and life is too difficult… we want people across the world to help us get back to our country," said Abu Mustaffa, a father of seven from Hamra governorate in Syria. 

“At the moment, I am not hopeful that there will be any peace, I feel hopeless. We all hope things will get better, but nothing happens. I want to go back to normal life where everything is fine and people have stopped killing each other," added Abu Mustaffa, who now lives in a tented settlement in the Jordan Valley.

“We hope to go back so that our children will return to their schools to learn, to farm their land and be productive in their own country.” 

AMMAN –– The Jordanian judge who was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Monday at the King Hussein Bridge did not try to seize the gun of a soldier as Israelis claim, an eyewitness at the scene said Tuesday.

Mohammad Sharif Zaid told The Jordan Times over the phone from Bethlehem that he was standing just metres away from Raed Zuaiter, a judge at Amman Court of First Instance, when the incident happened.

He recalled that the shooting took place after Israeli forces carried out a search of passengers of the bus that was carrying them to the West Bank.  

When most passengers went on board except for three, the 38-year-old judge, a young Palestinian woman and himself, an Israeli occupation soldier moved towards the bus and pushed Zuaiter, Zaid said.

“The judge and the soldiers had a verbal argument at the entrance of the inspection room,” he added, elaborating that another soldier pushed Zuaiter again, causing him to fall on the ground. 

Zaid recounted that the judge stood up and reacted to the affront to his dignity by pushing the soldier, but the Israeli pointed his gun at him and shot a bullet that missed him. 

The soldier took aim again, shooting Zuaiter in the chest as another soldier fired two more bullets that penetrated the judge’s body. 

Asked if Zuaiter attempted to seize the weapon of the Israeli soldier, the witness said it did not happen. 

“It is not true that he tried to take the soldier’s gun,” he added. 

“Passengers were shocked, and started crying and screaming,” according to Zaid, who added that the incident took place at around 8am. 

Tens of Israeli soldiers surrounded the bus to prevent passengers from getting off, while the judge was still bleeding, the witness said, noting that medics arrived at the scene nearly half-an-hour later and tried to perform CPR on the judge, but he was already dead. 

Later on, investigators arrived and started interrogating passengers individually. 

“‘Do you know this person or do you have any relationship with him?’ they asked me and others,” Zaid said, adding that the investigators asked the passengers to tell what happened from the beginning. 

They asked about the contents of Zuaiter’s luggage and then decided to have it destroyed with explosives without checking its contents, he recounted, noting that the bus was allowed to leave for the West Bank at 2pm.  

Reuters reported Monday that the Israeli military said Zuaiter, a judge with a PhD in law, had tried to seize a soldier’s gun at the King Hussein Bridge — known to Israelis as Allenby Bridge — and that troops had then shot him.

The killing of the Jordanian judge triggered anger among Jordanians. 

MAFRAQ — Civil Defence Department (CDD) personnel early Monday evacuated around 120 Syrian refugees living in the Zaatari Refugee Camp after rain flooded their tents, an official source said.

Mafraq CDD Director Col. Nayef Nawayseh said refugees were evacuated to a safer location, while authorities remove the water from their tents.

No injuries were reported, Nawayseh added.

Camp Director Col. Zaher Abu Shihab said 15 Syrian families were evacuated after heavy rainfall damaged their tents.

“Refugees were evacuated to international aid agency tents provided with heating, blankets and food supplies,” he added.