Jordan holds 11 on suspicion of planning embassy attack

JERUSALEM, April 9 (JTA) — Jordanian police have detained 11 youths suspected of planning a terrorist attack on Israel’s embassy in Amman. Sources in the Jordanian capital said the youths were also suspected of forming an illegal organization and distributing subversive materials. Earlier this week, reports from Jordan said the car belonging to the head of the Jordanian committee investigating the March 13 shooting of seven Israeli schoolgirls by a Jordanian soldier had been torched outside his home. Members of the committee visited Israel this week and met with teachers and students who took part in the school trip to Naharayim, which is controlled by Jordan and leased to Israel under the countries’ 1994 peace treaty. The meeting at Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, was later described as being held in a pleasant atmosphere, according to Israel Radio. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Jordanian delegation presented one of the teachers and three of the students with watches as gifts from the Jordanian army. An Israeli committee appointed by the Education Ministry is also investigating the incident to determine who, if anyone, was responsible for taking the students to Naharayim. Israeli media reports said this week that Education Ministry directives regarding visits to the site were unclear.