Jordan insists it respects peace deal, after minister walks on Israeli flag

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry on Sunday insisted that despite a recent incident in which the government spokeswoman and minister Jumana Ghneimat was photographed walking over an Israeli flag, the government is committed to the peace agreement it has with Israel. Jordan Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Qatarneh reaffirmed "the (Jordanian) government's respect for the peace treaty with Israel," adding that the flag incident was being dealt with via diplomatic channels. He said Jordan had told Israeli officials that the trade union building where Ghneimat had stepped on the flag was private property and that she entered via the main entrance to attend an official meeting. The response came after the Israeli Foreign Ministry protested to the Jordanian government over the incident last week at the Jordanian Professional Associations Complex in Amman. Footprints were also printed on the flag, which was displayed at the entrance to the complex. The image of the flag had been affixed to the floor for several years to protest Jordan's normalized ties with the state of Israel, union officials said. Ghunaimat, who is also the media and communications minister, was praised on social media for stepping on the flag as she arrived for the meeting. Media reports did not specify whether other ministers and senior officials had stepped on the flag or chosen to enter the building through the side entrance. Israel called a senior diplomat in the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv in for clarifications on Sunday, the Foreign Ministry said. ******************************** Israel and Jordan signed a peace agreement in 1994, but relations have often been frosty amid differences over Israeli policies in Jerusalem, where Jordan is custodian over Muslim sites. Last month, Jordan's King Abdullah II announced he would not renew part of the peace treaty that granted Israel use of two small agricultural areas along the border. The leases expire next year. Photos: People leaving a trade union complex in the Jordanian capital Amman step on the image of an Israeli flag, yesterday; Jordan's minister for media affairs and communications and government spokesperson, Jumana Ghunaimat (R), stepping on the Israeli flag at the entrance to the trade union headquarters in Amman

from Liveleak.com Rss Feed - Recent threads http://bit.ly/2F0T0PL
via IFTTT