Israel has notified the Jordanian government of its decision to freeze the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal project until Israeli diplomats are allowed to return to their embassy in Amman.
Israel and Jordan agreed in 2015 to begin work on the canal project which will convey potable water to both sides. The project aims to bring water from the Red Sea to stabilize the level of the Dead Sea and set up a desalination facility in Aqaba of Jordan.
According to the Hebrew Channel 10 Israel’s foreign ministry and its national security council do not want their government to go ahead with the canal project signed with Jordan as long as the Jordanian side does not allow Israeli ambassador Einat Schlein and her diplomatic corps to return to Amman.
The channel quoted the foreign ministry as saying that Israel might agree to apologize for what happened in Amman if the Jordanian King redressed the situation and allowed the embassy to reopen.
Last July Jordan charged an Israeli embassy guard with murder for shooting dead two Jordanians at the embassy compound in Amman.
The Jordanian prosecution also charged the guard with illegal possession of a firearm.
The slain Jordanians were described at the time as a furniture delivery boy and an owner of an apartment rented by the Israeli embassy.
The shooting sparked a diplomatic crisis after the Israeli government called the Jordanian victims attackers and treated the shooter as a hero.
