An Israeli citizen who was imprisoned in Jordan for three months has returned home after being released, announced the Prime Minister’s Office Wednesday.
Mahmoud Salameh met with government hostage pointman Gal Hirsch upon his release, which was secured after successful talks between Israeli and Jordanian authorities.
The Shin Bet security agency, Foreign Ministry and Israel Police all participated in negotiations with their Jordanian counterparts for Salameh’s freedom, the PMO said.
Salameh resides in Jaljulia, an Arab city in central Israel, according to his lawyer, Yousef Shaaban, who confirmed his release in a Facebook post Wednesday evening.
The reason for Salameh’s arrest was unclear. The PMO merely noted in its statement that the circumstances of his case were “under review by security forces.”
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According to Ynet, Salameh’s family originally resided in the West Bank. When locals found out that his grandfather sold land to Jewish settlers in the 1980s, Salameh’s father, Ahmad, fled to Israel. His grandfather was killed in the West Bank. Ahmad was also shot and killed in 2018 in Israel for this reason, the outlet added.
Salameh arrived in Jordan three months ago with an entry permit, but was arrested upon his arrival and apparently questioned by authorities regarding land sales to Jews, Ynet reported.
According to the PMO, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Hirsch and all involved in bringing Salameh back, and stressed the importance of adhering to National Security Council travel advisories.
Israel discourages non-essential travel to Jordan and applies a Level 4 warning to the country, stressing that citizens who enter put themselves at high risk.
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