Jordan investigates delivery drivers en route to West Bank after Israeli security guards killed

Jordan’s interior ministry is investigating local lorry drivers delivering goods to the Allenby Bridge crossing between the kingdom and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The investigation follows the killing on Sunday of three Israeli security guards by a Jordanian driver. The gunman, who was killed at the scene, was identified as Maher Diab Hussein al-Jazi (39), a member of the Hwaitat tribe from the impoverished southern Maan governate.
On Sunday evening, thousands of Jordanians marched from al-Husseini Mosque in central Amman to mark what they term Jazi’s “martyrdom”. His tribal background was seen by marchers as significant. His hometown of Udrah furnished troops for Jordan’s Arab Legion, which successfully defended Jerusalem’s old city against Israeli capture during the 1948 war of establishment.
Jazi was also a descendant of Legion commander Maher al-Jazi, whose troops fought alongside Palestinian Liberation Army fighters to rout Israeli forces in a battle for the Jordanian border town of Karameh in March 1968. This clash followed Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Karameh is adjacent to the Allenby crossing where Jazi killed the Israeli security guards.
Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood party chief Murad Adaileh said, “We bless this heroic operation carried out by this noble Jordanian hero.” Hamas called the attack a “normal response” to Israeli “crimes”.
Jazi was, as they say in Jordan, “Jordanian, Jordanian” not Jordanian of Palestinian background. Jordan’s tribes have been the backbone of the monarchy since the kingdom’s founding in 1921, and tribesmen serve in the armed forces.
The Hwaitat is a large, influential tribe which stretches into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and Saudi Arabia. Tribespeople have been alienated by marginalisation, neglect and corruption, and in 2021 backed a failed challenge to King Abdullah by his popular half-brother Hamza.
Hamza had been crown prince until the king’s son was appointed to the position.
The Gaza war has spiked resentment and spurred mass demonstrations against Jordan’s never-popular 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
Jordan’s government has been irked by Israeli security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and religious zealots who have violated the status quo agreement that gives Jordan custodianship of East Jerusalem’s mosque compound, which Jews regard as the site of ancient Jewish temples. Jordan has been custodian of Muslim and Christian holy sites in the city for decades.
Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi has called on the United Nations Security Council to take “immediate action to stop [Israel’s] illegal measures”.
He has been highly critical of Israel’s Gaza war and military operations in the West Bank, which Jordanians fear could create a fresh exodus of Palestinians into Jordan.
The incident at the crossing took place in the politically charged run-up to Tuesday’s Jordanian parliamentary election. Tribal, centrist and pro-government candidates are expected to win most seats in the 138-seat assembly.