The Kingdom of Jordan has released four terrorists convicted of murdering two IDF soldiers, including an officer, according to a Wednesday report from a Jordanian news agency.
The four Jordanian nationals were captured and sentenced to life in Israeli prisons for their 1990 murder of an IDF soldier and an officer, but were handed over to Jordan as a “gesture” of goodwill to King Abdullah II.
In the report by the Petra agency, the Jordanian king released the four as the result of mounting pressure from his constituents, in the wake of the recent prisoner swap in which Israel released terrorist murderers to Hizbullah, and most recently after this week’s news that Israel was prepared to release 200 Palestinian Authority terrorists as yet another “gesture” to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
As part of the 2007 prisoner return deal with Jordan, Israel agreed to hand over the four murderers on the condition that they would not be released until they served at least 18 months in Jordan’s prisons. This means they were supposed to have remained in prison until December 2009, despite the fact that their original sentences mandated life behind bars.
Despite the fact that the deal included a clause that allowed Jordan to release the prisoners if Israel unilaterally released PA prisoners in a “goodwill gesture,” Israel has yet to free the 200 PA prisoners it is considering releasing.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert commented on the decision in 2007 to release the four terrorists in a statement he issued, saying: "We received a personal request in the matter from the king, who is one of my friends... This move was considered very carefully. We are not releasing (these) prisoners; we are remanding them to a Jordanian prison for the rest of their sentence."
In related news, Jordan has resumed official ties with Hamas. This follows a period of tensions surrounding political disputes. Jordanian newspapers report of “positive meetings” between the terrorist group and the kingdom, and Hamas released a statement Friday proclaiming the restoration of its ties with Jordan. The announcements followed a series of meetings held over the past weeks between a Hamas delegation and representatives of the Jordanian government, including Jordan’s Intelligence Director Mohammed Zahabi. Among the items on the agenda were restrictions on the terror group’s activity in Jordan, suggesting that the kingdom that signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 plans to become the latest haven for Israel’s sworn enemies.