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Israeli killing of judge at border provokes backlash in Jordan

The killing of a Jordanian judge by an Israeli soldier comes only two weeks after Amnesty International released a study describing Israeli troops as "trigger happy."
A Jordanian protester shouts slogans against Israel during a protest near the Israeli embassy in Amman March 10, 2014.The protesters were demonstrating against the shooting of a Palestinian judge from Jordan by Israeli soldiers on Monday, local media reported. Israeli soldiers shot and killed the judge in an altercation at a crossing point between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said the man had tried to seize a soldier's gun at the Allenby bridge,

The killing of Raed Zuaiter, a Palestinian-Jordanian judge, at the entry to the Israeli-controlled side of the King Hussein Bridge on March 10 has resulted in an explosion of anger in the Hashemite kingdom. Protests and marches took place late that night near the Israeli Embassy in Amman. The following day, a vigil at Amman’s Justice Palace saw thousands of lawyers and judges unite in denouncing the killing. Students also protested at various universities, but perhaps the strongest voices were raised at the March 11 afternoon session of the Jordanian parliament, where legislators demanded in unison that the government expel the Israeli ambassador and recall Jordan’s envoy to Tel Aviv. Many even went so far as to call for scrapping the Israeli-Jordanian peace agreement. Others sought clemency for Ahmad Daqamseh, the Jordanian soldier who killed seven Israeli girls on the Jordan's side of the northern crossing point in March 1997 and has served more than half of his 25-year sentence.

The killing took place just two weeks after Amnesty International produced a report detailing how "trigger-happy" Israeli soldiers often abuse their firepower. The shooting of Judge Zuaiter very much fits the profile of the way well-armed Israeli soldiers conduct themselves, likely due to the impunity provided by the Israeli establishment. The study found that in most cases, Israeli soldiers are not held accountable for premeditated killings. Amnesty judged these premeditated wanton killings — in which the soldiers’ lives are not in danger — to be war crimes.

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