Palestinians left in limbo as Jordan shuts escape route

Thousands of frustrated Palestinians were stranded in Jericho yesterday after Jordan refused to let them cross the Allenby Bridge from the West Bank to the East.

Israel reopened the bridge on Thursday as part of a package to ease restrictions on Palestinian travel under the American-brokered ceasefire. Jordan's Interior Minister, Awad Khleifat, said the ban was designed to abort any Israeli move to drive Palestinians out of their homeland.

Other Jordanian officials acknowledged, however, that Amman did not want the kingdom to be swamped with West Bank immigrants at a time when temperatures are running high because of Palestinian suffering. At least 65 per cent of Jordan's population is of West Bank origin and has been feared as a destabilising factor by the royal house.

Saeb Erakat, a senior Palestinian negotiator who lives in Jericho, blamed Israel for the chaos at the Allenby Bridge, but an Israeli army spokesman insisted that the crossing was open. Jordan, which ruled the West Bank from 1949 to 1967, is only allowing Palestinians with East Bank residence permits to enter its territory. Another unwelcome Palestinian visitor was stuck for a fourth day at Amman international airport. Ibrahim Ghoshesh, a Hamas leader expelled from Jordan to Qatar in November, 1999, flew back unannounced on Thursday. The Jordanians refused him entry.

An official accused him of violating a deal under which he was exiled rather than prosecuted for alleged illegal activities. The Hamas leader could return to Jordan only if he renounced his affiliation with a "non-Jordanian organisation". Ghoshesh, 65, refused to go back to the Gulf emirate. The Qatari Airways captain who had flown him to Amman said he had strict orders not to fly him back. Jordan then barred the plane from taking off.

Both Jordan and Egypt, the two Arab states that signed peace treaties with Israel, are worried that the intifada might cross their borders. A senior United Nations official accompanying the secretary general, Kofi Annan, to the Middle East yesterday warned Israel that it risked undermining these regimes if it "set the bar impossibly high" for Palestinian compliance with the ceasefire and did not give Yasser Arafat something to convince his people that the truce was not a surrender.

The official urged Mr Arafat to implement the ceasefire as rigorously as possible. But at the same time he urged the Israelis not to expect 100 per cent success.

* Israeli soldiers shot dead a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip yesterday, Palestinian hospital officials said.

Ali Abu Shaweesh was killed in Khan Younis near the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim where small stone-throwing clashes took place throughout the day, officials said. Another four people were wounded, one seriously, they added.