Israeli embassy incident — lessons

The news of an Israeli security man killing two Jordanians in Amman has gone viral.

Social media were abuzz with anger and many Jordanians made it perfectly clear that Israel has no respect for Jordan’s sovereignty.

With the Jordanian judge who was killed a few years ago still fresh in mind, the latest incident came to vindicate those who have for long argued against peace and normalisation with Israel.

Judging from the Israeli government’s latest provocative policies, one cannot but conclude that Israel is charting a course for a crisis with Jordan.

From Jordan’s perspective, Israel has yet to live up to its commitments stated in the peace treaty. And yet, that is easier said than done. Over the course of the last years, Israel has done a lot to undermine Jordanians’ trust in peace.

Israel’s unwillingness to offer the minimum required concessions for peace remains a sticking point in its relationship with Jordan; Israel has yet to realise that peace with Jordan means that it does not initiate any act that can be perceived as violating Jordan’s sovereignty.

Twenty years ago, Israeli agents attempted to assassinate Khaled Mishaal in Amman. The failed attempt demonstrated to Jordanians that Israelis did not understand the meaning of having peace with Jordan.

Has Israel learnt from this outrageous infringement on Jordan’s sovereignty?

Hardly!

A few days ago, two Jordanians were killed by an Israeli security officer in Amman.

By design or default, successive Israeli governments have enfeebled the peace camp in Jordan. Nowadays, it is most unlikely to find a single Jordanian who would publicly defend peace with Israel.

A close look at the public debate in Jordan reveals that the overwhelming majority of Jordanians view Israel as an enemy. 

This being the case, fixing the Israeli-Jordanian relations — let alone bringing back the peace camp together again — remains a far-fetched objective.

To be sure, it will be an uphill battle to deconstruct the negative image of Israel among Jordanians. But worse is the dominant image among Jordanians that their government is powerless. It has no teeth to back up its rhetoric and therefore Jordanians do not like it.

In my opinion, Jordanians will not settle for less than bringing the Israeli security man to trial. Nevertheless, a majority in Jordan — and I hope that they are mistaken — believes that the government will not be able to take the Israeli security man to a Jordanian court for killing two Jordanians.

The killing of the two Jordanians came amid tense national atmosphere engendered by the guilty verdict against a Jordanian soldier who killed three Americans.

The government in Jordan is having a hard time convincing Jordanians of almost anything. The gap in trust between the government and the society cannot be wider.

Of course, it is not the first time the government fails to act timely and in a manner that makes it show in control of the situation.

I would say that the reluctance of the government to come up with a narrative of what happened has opened the door widely for rumours.

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