AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday stated a Jordanian lawmaker has been arrested by Israel on suspicion of smuggling weapons and gold into the occupied West Bank.
The ministry’s spokesman, Sinan Majali, stated Jordanian officers are following the case “to find out the merits of the situation and address it as soon as possible.” The lawmaker was recognized as Imad Al-Adwan and stated to have been arrested crossing the border into the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined remark.
The incident threatens to additional pressure what already are tense relations between Jordan and its neighbor Israel.
The West Bank has seen a surge in violence over the previous 12 months. Israel says the realm has been flooded with unlawful weapons, together with weapons smuggled from neighboring Jordan.
Over 90 Palestinians and 18 Israelis have been killed within the West Bank and east Jerusalem this 12 months. Israel says a lot of the Palestinians have been wished militants, however stone-throwing youths protesting military incursions and other people not concerned in confrontations have additionally been killed. All however one of many Israelis killed have been civilians.
Since Israel’s hard-line authorities took workplace, relations with Jordan have deteriorated over Israeli settlement building, violence within the West Bank and insurance policies over holy websites in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Jordan managed the West Bank and east Jerusalem earlier than Israel captured the areas within the 1967 Mideast conflict, however the kingdom retains custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and different Muslim holy websites within the Old City.
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