JORDAN/ISRAEL: LITTLE-KNOWN JORDANIAN GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SHOOTING OF AN ISRAELI EMBASSY EMPLOYEE IN AMMAN

Record ID: 400507

  • Title: JORDAN/ISRAEL: LITTLE-KNOWN JORDANIAN GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SHOOTING OF AN ISRAELI EMBASSY EMPLOYEE IN AMMAN
  • Date: 5th December 2000
  • Summary: AMMAN, JORDAN (DECEMBER 5,2000)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (NIGHT SHOTS) 1. GV: AMMAN STREET SCENE 0.06 2. VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF HOSPITAL (2 SHOTS) 0.17 3. VARIOUS: CAR/ POLICEBY CAR/BULLET HOLES IN CAR FRAME (6 SHOTS) 0.40 4. PULL OUT: BLOOD IN CAR 0.47 DECEMBER 6 2000 (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 5. MV: ISRAELI D
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AMMAN, JORDAN
  • City:
  • Country: Jerusalem Jerusalem Israel Jordan
  • Reuters ID: LVAB4Z3RRTWGQOFPT48ZM09XKCQR
  • Story Text: A little-known Jordanian group claimed responsibility
    on Wednesday(December 6) for the shooting of an Israeli
    embassy employee in Amman and vowed more attacks in Jordan
    until ties between the countries are severed. Ratsabi, who
    suffered a bullet wound and a fracture, spent the night at a
    Amman hospital before he was taken by ambulance to Israel.



    An unidentified assailant fired at the car of Shlomo
    Ratsabi, an embassy administrative official, as he drove in
    the Jordanian capital on Tuesday (December 5) evening,
    wounding him in the left ankle.

    Ratsabi, who suffered a bullet wound and a fracture, spent
    the night at a Amman hospital before he was taken by ambulance
    to Israel. Doctors said he was in good condition.

    Speaking to reporters after visiting Shlomo Ratsabi in
    hospital on Wednesday (December 6)
    Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdulilah al-Khatib described the
    shooting as unacceptable.

    "This is totally unacceptable, this is a diplomat who is
    functioning according to diplomatic rules and the Government
    will be issuing a statement on this incident".

    The Jordanian Islamic Resistance Movement for Holy
    Struggle, in a statement to a Western news agency in Beirut,
    said it carried out the attack. The authenticity of the claim
    could not be verified.

    The group had also claimed a similar attack on an Israeli
    diplomat in Amman last month. Vice-Consul Yoram Havivian was
    shot and wounded lightly in the thigh and arm on November 19.

    On Wednesday(December 6) Ratsabi arrived back in Jerusalem and
    was greeted by friends and relatives.

    Israel's 1994 peace treaty with Jordan was its second
    with an Arab state. The first was signed with Egypt in 1979.

    Jordan has so far delayed sending a newly appointed
    Jordanian ambassador to its embassy in Tel Aviv in protest at
    what it says is Israel's excessive use of force against
    Palestinians.

    The bloodiest attack against Israelis in Jordan occurred
    in March 1997, when a Jordanian soldier killed seven Israeli
    schoolgirls at the border.



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