Israeli tourists upset Jordanians

Jordanian authorities have recently lodged an official complaint with the Israeli Embassy in Amman, citing the way Israeli tourists have been conducting themselves while visiting the Hashemite Kingdom.

The complaint led the Foreign Ministry to convene a senior panel to discuss the matter, including Israeli Ambassador to Jordan, Yaakov Rosen, head of the ministry’s Jordanian bureau, Tuvia Israeli and Amnon Kalmar, head of the Foreign Ministry’s department for Israelis abroad; as well as representatives of the Tourism Ministry and the Counter Terrorism Bureau.

But what has the Jordanians so upset? The Israeli tourists, says Amman, keep breaking one of Jordan’s basic tourism laws, which calls for any group of six tourists or more to be accompanied by a local guide. Jordan says the Israelis cross the border one by one, and only form a group later on.

Further more, Israeli tourists break protocol by traveling to areas near Jordan’s borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and by venturing too close to military facilities.

And as if that was not enough, the Jordanians claim that the Israelis traveling to Petra evade paying the mandatory toll of 25 dinar ($35); they camp illegally in national parks, and that they are rude to local law enforcement officials.

In another case, Jordanian forces were reported to have engaged in a grueling rescue operation of an Israeli woman bitten by a scorpion. However, upon arrival to hospital, the woman reportedly refused to be treated by Jordanian doctors, deeply insulting them.