Amman, Sep 8 (EFE).- Jordan will open the Allenby border crossing between the Arab kingdom and the West Bank to passengers on Monday, after it was closed on Sunday following the shooting that killed three Israelis and the Jordanian truck driver who allegedly opened fire on them, the Jordanian Interior Ministry reported.
In a statement, the Kingdom’s Public Security Directorate said that “the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge will be reopened tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. (07:00 GMT),” but said the crossing “will remain closed to freight traffic.”
The note urged passengers to “comply with the instructions” of the authorities to facilitate their journey.
The Allenby land crossing, used daily by thousands of Palestinians as Israel denies them the right to use Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, was closed after the attack on Sunday morning, as were all other border crossings from Israel into Jordan.
Jordanian authorities said the shooting was the result of “an individual act” based on preliminary investigations, and stressed that “investigations are continuing to ascertain all the details of the incident.”
According to initial investigations, the shooter on the other side of the King Hussein Bridge – as the Allenby Pass is known in Jordan – is a Jordanian citizen named Maher al Yazi, who crossed the pass driving a truck loaded with commercial goods from Jordan to the West Bank.
In a statement on Sunday, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry stressed that Jordan’s “firm position of rejecting and condemning violence and attacks against civilians for any reason” and stressed the need to “address the causes (of the violence) and the escalation.”
The note stressed Jordan’s “repeated warnings about the consequences of the continued Israeli aggression against Gaza, the dangerous escalation (…) against the occupied West Bank and the attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites in East Jerusalem (occupied by Israel), as well as the repercussions of these actions throughout the region.”
The Jordanian Interior Ministry said all Jordanian drivers who were held for questioning after the shooting have been released and that more than 100 trucks have returned to the kingdom, while “the situation of other Jordanian drivers being questioned in Israel” after the incident continues.
According to an Israeli army statement, the Jordanian attacker “got out of the truck and opened fire on Israeli security forces operating on the bridge” at the border crossing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and took the opportunity to blame the “axis of evil” led by Iran, which is how Israel usually refers to groups associated with the Islamic republic, such as Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank or Hezbollah in Lebanon. EFE
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