Till justice is served

The “deep regret” expressed by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the killing of Judge Raed Zuaiter last week takes part of the sting out of the murder controversy, but not all.

The two Israeli leaders called His Majesty King Abdullah to express their “deep regret” over the killing” of Zuaiter at the hands of Israeli occupation soldiers deployed at the King Hussein Bridge border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.

No less significant than the expression of regret is Israel’s unqualified acceptance to conduct an investigation into the crime together with Jordanian experts.

The legal determination of guilt and accountability for the killing of the Jordan citizen, both legal and political, must now await the completion of the investigation, even though the impending probe was off to a bad start when the Israeli authorities claimed that security cameras at the border crossing were not working that very day. 

Many in Jordan will find this very hard to believe.

But the fact that the cameras were off should give more weight to testimonies by eyewitnesses who described the incident which claimed the life of the 38-year-old man who was on his way to his hometown of Nablus to raise funds for the treatment of his sick child, now lying in a coma at one of Amman’s hospitals, as cold-blooded murder.

Jordanians as a whole want justice to be served and those who killed the judge held accountable for their act.

Israeli courts and investigation panels, be they civil or military, should know that Arab blood is not cheaper than Jewish blood.

Israeli soldiers manning the crossing between Jordan and Palestine should respect the sanctity of human life. They should respect dignity of all travellers, regardless of their race or religion.

Monday’s statements by the Israeli leaders can be taken as a step in the right direction, but they should be followed by more, finally achieving justice through a thorough investigation into the killing.

More importantly, the Israeli leaders should be more earnestly working towards a just solution to the Mideast problem that would lead to the establishment of a viable Palestinian state and the end of the occupation.