Israeli authorities arrested a Jordanian lawmaker on suspicion of smuggling hundreds of weapons and possibly gold into Judea and Samaria, Amman revealed on Sunday.
Imad al-Adwan was arrested the previous day while attempting to cross the Allenby Bridge border by car.
An Israel Police spokesperson said only that a “security investigation” had been opened and that a court-issued gag order pertaining to the case would remain in place until May 2.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
Al-Adwan is reportedly a member of the “Palestine Committee” in the Jordanian parliament.
The diplomatic dispute between Jerusalem and Amman over the security situation on the Temple Mount remains hot, with a senior Israeli official having earlier this month accused the Jordanian foreign minister of fanning the flames.
Senior Israeli officials have pointed the finger at the Hashemite Kingdom’s top diplomat, Ayman Safadi, who also serves as deputy prime minister, for not trying to calm down the tensions at the holy site that earlier this month saw clashes between police and rioters.
On April 5, Israeli police arrested more than 350 Muslim rioters who barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa mosque. On April 8, hundreds of Muslims again barricaded themselves inside the mosque, attempting to provoke a response from Israeli security services. However, police did not enter the building to clear out the extremists.
The Jordanian government has publicly held Israel responsible for the escalation, with Israel’s Foreign Ministry shooting back by calling on Amman, through the Waqf Islamic trust tasked with safeguarding Muslim sites on the Temple Mount, to take action against the rioters.
Safadi recently retweeted a statement published in the Jordanian parliament saying that the Palestinians are the No. 1 cause for Jordan and that “a just and comprehensive peace will not be achieved unless Jerusalem is liberated as the capital of an independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian national soil.”
