Sunday, May 23, 2010

Israeli intelligence monitoring Islamic challenge to Jordan kingdom

http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/2010/05/22/the-hashemite-kinglets-crown-is-shaking-see-note/
A.P.

JERUSALEM — Israel has become concerned over declining stability in neighboring Jordan.

Government sources said the intelligence community has detected a sharp increase in Islamic unrest as well as insurgency activity. The sources said several opposition groups were believed to be cooperating to destabilize the Hashemite regime.

"The situation in the kingdom is not stable and the friction between the government and the terror groups there is growing," former Mossad director Danny Yatom said. In 2010, Israel has come under at least two attacks in Jordan. In April, two Katyusha-class rockets were fired from the area around the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba toward Israel. Nobody was hurt and Jordan denied that rockets were fired from the kingdom.

Three months earlier, a bomb was detonated by remote control near a convoy that contained Israeli diplomats. Nobody was injured in the January attack and the following day Israel sent a security delegation to its embassy in Amman to investigate.

Yatom, who also served in the Knesset, did not cite insurgency groups in Jordan. But he said their growing presence was making it more difficult for Israel to protect its diplomats and other visitors.

"It's important to change the routine, change the travel routes and the vehicles in which one travels," Yatom said. "This is the responsibility of the Foreign Ministry's defense establishment, under the guidance of the Israel Security Agency. This activity is very complex because everyone knows exactly where the embassy is located."

The sources said Israel and Jordan have been working closely to identify and quell insurgency plots. They said authorities in the two countries cooperate in such areas as intelligence exchange, joint investigations and relaying data on suspected insurgents.

Still, Jordan's King Abdullah has distanced himself from Israel amid rising tension in the Middle East. The sources said Abdullah has refused a public meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an attempt to avoid an Islamic backlash. The last meeting of the two took place in May 2009.

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