The license of a Jordanian attorney was recently revoked for representing “Zionist settlements” in a business dispute between Kibbutz Eilot and a Jordanian company, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported on Monday.
The kibbutz, located in Israel’s southern Arava Desert, contacted Amman-based attorney Ali al-Rashidat after the Jordanian company’s subsidiary, Hijazi and Ghosheh, failed to pay Eilot some $300,000 according to an Israeli court’s ruling from 2020 in their dispute, according to Kan.
Eilot hired the services of al-Rashidat, who several months ago sent a warning letter to the Jordanian company ahead of a lawsuit.
However, the affair was leaked to the Jordanian press and led to the revocation of the lawyer’s license for representing an Israeli company, the report added.
Speaking with Kan’s Reshet Bet radio station on Monday, al-Rashidat lamented his situation.
“The most basic right of any citizen is to have a lawyer, which applies to every country. I ask: If a Jordanian encounters a problem while in Israel, is it forbidden for him to have an Israeli lawyer? It’s not forbidden. But here in Jordan, the [Jordanian Bar Association] positions itself as if it’s the one that decides and judges. It comes to judge us and takes away my professional license,” he was quoted as saying.
“I wrote a letter to the Jordanian Minister of Justice [Bassam Talhouni], and he didn’t answer me,” al-Rashidat continued. “I wrote to the Prime Minister [Jafar Hassan] by email and he didn’t answer me. I wrote to the Royal Household Office, they didn’t answer me. I wrote to you and you’re the only one who answered me,” he told Reshet Bet.
Kibbutz Eilot has sent letters to Israeli Ambassador to Jordan Rogel Rahman and Jordanian Ambassador to Israel Ghassan al-Majali, requesting that the license of al-Rashidat be returned, saying revoking it constitutes a violation of the peace agreement between the countries.
Al-Rashidat said that the incident demonstrated that the 1994 peace treaty was only on paper. “Why are we being denied this peace? Why is it better in Dubai than it is here?”
He urged the Israeli government “to intervene to resolve this issue, since here in Jordan no one is doing anything.” He expressed concern that “the interests of Israeli companies and factories in Jordan will be severely harmed, and I can’t recommend that Israelis invest in Jordan.”
The kibbutz also appealed to the Israeli government to request that Amman help in returning the amount it is owed, Kan reported.
Israel and Jordan will mark the 31st anniversary of the peace treaty next week.
