Dubai: The longest serving Jordanian prisoner in an Israeli jail arrived home on Tuesday, Jordanian officials said, after completing a 20-year sentence for planting a bomb on an Israeli bus that injured more than a dozen people.
Abdullah Abu Jaber, 44, was arrested after the explosive device went off on the bus in Tel Aviv in December 2000. He was one of thousands of Jordanians who found casual work in Israel after the two countries normalised ties with a peace treaty in 1994. An Israeli court on Tuesday dropped charges against two Jordanians who were arrested in May after crossing into the West Bank.
Meanwhile, on May 16, young men Khalifa Al Onouz and Mosab Al Da’ajah were arrested in the Gilboa area after they managed to cross the Jordan River into the West Bank on foot. Israeli authorities said they were carrying ‘knives.’
They were questioned by security intelligence services who decided to detain them in prison for further investigation and trial.
On May 25, Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Israeli ambassador in Amman protesting the detention of its Jordanian citizens and demanding their immediate release.
