Jordan: Firm hand against terrorists
Following rockets fired at Eilat, Aqaba, editorial in Jordanian paper al-Rai says attack must 'open our eyes to terror', adds terrorists 'have no conscience, will have no fear unless served a blow'
Jordan on Tuesday harshly condemned the perpetrators of Monday's rocket atttack on Eilat and Aqaba.
While the rocket that hit Eilat exploded in an open area and caused no damage or injuries, the rocket that landed in Jordan exploded in a central area, killing one person and wounding four.
An editorial in Jordan's al-Rai newspaper read, "Yesterday the terrorists carried out another crime against innocent, helpless people, and against civilian targets. This reinforces the belief that they are murderers with no goal besides shedding blood. The war against them must continue, and must be firm and deterring. They must be uprooted. Their plans must be exposed and those who fund them and provide logistic and material assistance must be uncovered."
The paper also called for action against terror cells. "The crime in Aqaba must open our eyes to the scope of the terror threat, which puts us all at risk and should encourage us to keep working to have the murderers exposed and prosecuted, to have them punished for bloodying their hands. It seems they will have no fear, unless they are served a blow. They have no conscience, no emotions, and no religious, moral or human constraints." The article added, "We will never be frightened by blind terror."
Meanwhile, suspicion that the rockets were launched from Sinai is growing in the Hashemite Kingdom. A Jordanian official said the country has proof that the rockets were launched from Sinai, and added, "We have strong suspicions about the identity of the group behind this attack," but refused to give further details.
The rocket attack is being widely covered in Egypt, but most of the coverage is based on reports from Israel and Jordan. State newspaper al-Ahram settled for such a report, and the daily al-Masry al-Youm added a denial from an Egyptian security official who said the rockets were not fired from Egyptian territory.
"These reports are completely untrue. No traces of rockets launched from Sinai were found. Such rocket fire requires logistic preparations that cannot exist in Sinai," the source said.
There were also sources that claimed the rockets were fired from a different location. Military expert General Mohamed Ali Belal said Palestinian-affiliated organizations in Jordan were behind the attack. He said they did it to "hurt indirect talks between the Palestinians and Israelis".
Hamas denies involvement
Meanwhile, Hamas has denied all involvement in the attack. On Monday one of the movement's officials, Dr Salah al-Bardawil denied Hamas' involvement and said, "The occupation is looking for excuses to justify its aggression towards Gaza."
Al-Bardawil added that "Hamas in not interested in leading the Palestinian people into war, while its wounds are still open. The enemy knows we did not fire those rockets."
Islamic Jihad Leader Khaled Al-Batsh also denied any link between the rocket attacks and Palestinian factions.
"It's very difficult to transfer rockets from the Gaza Strip to Sinai, he said, adding that Palestinian groups are not interested in sending weapons to Sinai or to any other neighboring country and would continue to fight Israel from within their territories.
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