BICOM

The diplomatic standoff at the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian capital Amman has been resolved, with the entire embassy staff returning to Israel.

Shortly before 11:00 PM on Monday night all the Israeli diplomats from the embassy, headed by Ambassador Einat Schlein, arrived in Israel via the Allenby Crossing. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said that “all are in good health”, and that their return was “was made possible by the close cooperation that took place in the last 24 hours between Israel and Jordan”.

Among the contingent was the security guard wounded in Sunday night’s stabbing attack at the embassy. Jordanian authorities had wanted to interrogate him about his part in the attack in which two Jordanian citizens were killed. The guard had been prohibited from leaving the country, despite having diplomatic immunity.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken to King Abdullah as part of attempted to resolve the standoff. According to a readout published by Jordanian state media, the King demanded Israel find an “immediate solution” to ongoing crisis at the Temple Mount, and remove metal detectors. The King spoke about “the necessity to remove the measures taken by the Israeli side since the recent crisis began”.

However, the PMO denied that Jordan had demanded the removal of metal detectors at the entrance to the Temple Mount in return for the release of the security guard.

Shin Bet Direct Nadav Argaman also travelled to Jordan yesterday morning, while Jordanian Ambassador to Israel Walid Obeidat was invited to meet with Foreign Ministry Director-General Yuval Rotem as part of the diplomatic effort.

A senior Israeli official said that while Israel refused the Jordanian request to question the guard Argaman invited two Jordanian detectives to be present, as a good will gesture. They were shown photographs of the incident that proved that he acted in self- defence. Nearly an hour after hearing the guard’s statement, the embassy staff boarded a convoy back to Israel.

Following the diplomats’ return President Reuven Rivlin said: “The State of Israel’s longstanding cooperation with the Hashemite Kingdom and King Abdullah, who knew to help wisely also now, played a significant part in the efforts to bring an end to the crisis, and we deeply appreciate this.”