Jordan Times
Friday, February 27, 2004
No legal basis for raid — CBJ governor
By Issam Qadamani
AMMAN — Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) Governor Umayya Touqan on Thursday said Israel's raid on Jordanian banks in Ramallah had no legal basis.Touqan told Al Rai and The Jordan Times that Israel violated the Geneva Convention and the 1994 peace treaty between the two countries. He said the CBJ and the government are “following up on the issue through diplomatic channels,” adding that “we are trying to politically settle the problem.”
Meanwhile, director general of the Cairo-Amman Bank, Yazid Mufti, said Israeli troops seized JD475,000 from the Ramallah branch. No information was available on Israel's similar attempt to confiscate funds from Arab Bank's two branches in the West Bank town.
On Wednesday, Minister of State and Government Spokesperson Asma Khader strongly condemned the unprecedented Israeli raid, which violates international regulations on the preservation of banking secrecy.
She expressed “astonishment and anxiety” that Israeli soldiers burst into the premises of the Arab Bank and the Cairo-Amman Bank.
According to Agence France-Presse, US officials also criticised Israel's raid, arguing that the action risks destabilising the Palestinian banking system.
A senior Israeli security official said that soldiers had seized several million dollars allegedly used to finance “terrorist actions,” including buying arms and explosives and paying anti-Israeli militants or their families if they were killed.