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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element" dir="ltr"> <font
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href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/jordanian-israeli-tensions-continue-rise">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/jordanian-israeli-tensions-continue-rise</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Jordanian-Israeli tensions continue to
rise</h1>
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/tamara-nassar">Tamara
Nassar</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">-</span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2019-11-03T14:10:06+00:00">3 November 2019</span></span>
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<figure id="file-85801"><source media="(min-width:
72rem)"><figcaption><small><span></span></small></figcaption></figure>
<p>Tensions are growing between Israel and Jordan just
days after the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/trapped-treaty-jordans-options-are-limited/28756">25th
anniversary</a> of the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/wadi-araba-agreement">Wadi
Araba peace agreement</a> between the two countries.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Jordan <a
href="https://twitter.com/Squdah/status/1189277621173047298">recalled</a>
its ambassador from Tel Aviv “for consultation” in
protest at Israel’s months-long detention of two
Jordanians without charge or trial.</p>
<p>“We hold [the] Israeli government responsible for the
lives of our citizens whose health conditions have
severely deteriorated in illegal arbitrary detention,”
Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi <a
href="https://twitter.com/AymanHsafadi/status/1189272688759627777">said</a>,
calling it a “first step.”</p>
<p>“We will take all necessary legal and diplomatic
measures to ensure their safe return home.”</p>
<p>On Thursday, a day after Jordan’s ambassador to
Israel, Ghassan Majali, <a
href="https://twitter.com/ForeignMinistry/status/1189525356224618496">arrived</a>
in Amman, the UN also called on Israel to release the
prisoners.</p>
<p>“We are gravely concerned that [Jordanian prisoner
Hiba Ahmad al-Labadi] was subjected to treatment
during her interrogation that could amount to torture
and ill-treatment,” UN officials <a
href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25236&LangID=E">said</a>.</p>
<p>They also condemned Israel’s use of solitary
confinement against al-Labadi.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, an Israeli citizen reportedly illegally <a
href="https://twitter.com/Squdah/status/1189276605958541315">entered</a>
northern Jordanian territory on Tuesday, and is being
questioned by Jordanian security forces.</p>
<h2>Jordanian prisoners</h2>
<p>Al-Labadi was hospitalized <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/jordanian-woman-jailed-in-israel-without-trial-hospitalized-amid-hunger-strike/">multiple
times</a> in the past week as she enters her <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/jordanian-detained-by-israel-taken-to-hospital-after-35-days-on-hunger-strike-1.8034009">second
month</a> of hunger strike.</p>
<p>She was arrested on 20 August at the Allenby Bridge
that separates the occupied West Bank from Jordan.</p>
<p>The 32-year-old was on her way to the city of Jenin
to attend her cousin’s wedding. She also holds the <a
href="https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/identity-crisis-the-israeli-id-system">West
Bank green identity card</a>.</p>
<p>Israeli prison authorities barred al-Labadi from
meeting with her lawyer Raslan Mahajneh for more than
three weeks of her detention, <a
href="https://www.7iber.com/politics-economics/%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%91%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84/">according</a>
to Jordanian publication <em>7iber</em>.</p>
<p>Majahneh told 7iber that his client is being held on
suspicion of “incitement to military action and
contact with a foreign agent” but hasn’t been charged.</p>
<p>An Israeli military court issued al-Labadi a
six-month administrative detention order shortly after
she was detained, and she <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/www.addameer.org/news/addameer%E2%80%99s-lawyer-visit-hiba-al-labady-detainee-hunger-strike">announced</a>
she would start a hunger strike on the same day.</p>
<p>Israel typically issues administrative detention
orders for six-month periods, but can renew them
indefinitely.</p>
<p>Under such orders, Israel can hold individuals
without charge or trial and detainees are not allowed
to see any evidence against them.</p>
<p>The practice is a direct continuation of detention
practices under British colonial rule and may <a
href="http://www.addameer.org/Campaign/sheets-and-reports/10-facts-about-administrative-detention">constitute</a>
a war crime, according to human rights organizations.</p>
<p>As of September, Israel was holding more than <a
href="http://www.addameer.org/statistics">400</a>
Palestinians in administrative detention.</p>
<p>Two weeks into her strike, a lawyer with Addameer was
able to visit her and <a
href="http://www.addameer.org/news/addameer%E2%80%99s-lawyer-visit-hiba-al-labady-detainee-hunger-strike">confirmed</a>
that al-Labadi was undergoing long and harsh
interrogations.</p>
<p>Jordan’s foreign ministry <a
href="https://twitter.com/Squdah/status/1184879479023382533">said</a>
the order was “invalid, unacceptable” and demanded her
immediate release.</p>
<p>Another Jordanian was arrested at the Allenby Bridge
on 2 September.</p>
<p>Abdulrahman Mirie, 28, was on his way to attend his
cousin’s wedding in the occupied West Bank city of
Nablus.</p>
<p>Israel’s Ofer military court <a
href="https://twitter.com/asranews/status/1189183919712698369">refused
an appeal</a> for Mirie’s release, reaffirming his
four-month sentence in administrative detention.</p>
<p>There are currently 21 Jordanian detainees in Israeli
prisons, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/226168818009142/photos/a.280602815899075/423603988265623/?type=3&theater">according</a>
to a local organization for Jordanian prisoners in
Israeli jails.</p>
<p>Mirie and al-Labadi are seemingly the <a
href="http://info.wafa.ps/ar_page.aspx?id=WOenrra27669363216aWOenrr">only</a>
Jordanians under administrative detention and dozens
of Jordanian civil society organizations called for
their release.</p>
<h2>Tense climate</h2>
<p>The detention of al-Labadi, Mirie and <a
href="https://www.7iber.com/politics-economics/%d8%a3%d8%b1%d8%af%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%91%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%b3%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ad%d8%aa%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%84/?source=related-button">other
Jordanians</a> comes in the context of the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/trapped-treaty-jordans-options-are-limited/28756">25th
anniversary</a> of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty,
which was not marked by any ceremony in a sign of
bilateral tensions.</p>
<p>On 10 November, Israel is set to return control of
the territories of al-Baqoura and al-Ghamr to Jordan,
territory that had been leased to Israel under the
treaty.</p>
<p>Last October, King Abdullah <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israelis-urge-cutting-water-supply-jordan">announced</a>
that Jordan would not renew the relevant annexes in
its 1994 treaty.</p>
<p>Al-Baqoura, an area in northwest Jordan where the
Yarmouk and Jordan rivers meet, and al-Ghamr, an area
south of the Dead Sea, were leased to Israel for 25
years.</p>
<p>Israeli newspaper <em>Haaretz</em> <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-25-years-to-israel-jordan-peace-security-flourishes-but-people-kept-apart-1.7969955">reported</a>
that negotiations are underway between the kingdom and
Israeli officials regarding a possible extension of
the lease to accommodate Israeli farmers.</p>
<p>Jordan’s foreign ministry has, however, <a
href="https://twitter.com/Squdah/status/1184380341307478017">repudiated</a>
those reports, stating that Jordan’s decision not to
renew annexes is “final and irrevocable.”</p>
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