Jordan Times
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Monarch condemns attack,
Jordan denies infiltration
By Khalid Neimat and Hana Namroqa
AMMAN — King Abdullah on Monday condemned the Eilat suicide bombing, which
killed three people in the southern Israeli resort, as the government denied
that the attacker infiltrated from the Kingdom.
The King told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over the telephone that efforts
to revive the peace process should not be impeded by such an attack. He said a
prompt relaunch of the process was a must to prevent undermining the resumption
of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. At a meeting yesterday with EU and G-8
envoys to Jordan, the Monarch condemned “such operations that increase
Palestinian suffering and undermine efforts to bridge Palestinian-Israeli gap”,
the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. Government Spokesperson Nasser Judeh,
meanwhile, denied that the Eilat suicide bomber infiltrated the resort from
Jordan, saying he never entered the Kingdom.
“Records of government agencies and border control points, showed that this
individual never entered the Kingdom and never resided in Jordan," Judeh told
The Jordan Times.
The Islamic Jihad that claimed responsibility for the attack said the bomber set
out from the West Bank and reached Eilat via Jordan after seven months of
preparation.
But Judeh said such “information was baseless”.
Judeh also welcomed Saudi Arabia’s offer to mediate an end to the worst
Fateh-Hamas violence in a year that has killed at least 33 people.
He said Jordan was deeply concerned about violence in the Palestinian
territories.