Katyusha rockets fired from Jordan into the Jordan Valley on Wednesday night have led settlers in the area to complain of a deterioration in the security situation and to demand the special status granted to front-line villages.
The missiles caused no damage or casualties. The crater caused by the impact of a 105mm Katyusha was found in a search of the region Thursday morning.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir appealed to Jordan to increase its vigilance to prevent hostile actions across the border, adding he was certain the Jordanian government had not changed its policy of keeping the border quiet.
Knesset members of all parties said that Jordan should be warned that cross-border activities could not be confined to one direction only, and that if Israeli farmers near the border were molested or in danger, then Jordanian farmers should be in comparable danger.
The enraged settlers pointed to a number of incidents in recent weeks and months, including an attack by a lone infiltrator on an IDF patrol last Saturday, which resulted in the death of two soldiers and the wounding of a third.
In addition, several infiltration attempts have been made, in both the northern Beit She’an and the southern Arava regions, during the past year.
Since the attack on the IDF patrol near Kfar Ruppin last Saturday, farmers and kibbutz members have been ordered to carry arms.
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