Israel to reopen West Bank crossing to Jordan to passenger traffic only

Israel will on Friday reopen the only crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, while restricting access to passenger traffic.

Lorries, which usually use the King Hussein Bridge, also known as the Allenby Bridge, to carry life-saving aid bound for Gaza, will not be allowed entry under the directive, the Israel Airports Authority said on Thursday.

Israel shut the crossing last Friday after a lorry driver delivering aid from Jordan for Gaza opened fire and killed two Israeli soldiers there. After briefly reopening it on Monday, Israeli authorities said they were closing the crossing indefinitely.

The bridge forms part of the Karama Crossing, which serves as the main thoroughfare for West Bank Palestinians intending to travel abroad and is also used by lorries carrying commercial goods between Jordan and the West Bank.

The UN says the crossing is a major route for bringing in food, tents and other goods into Gaza, and warned that its closure could have a significant impact on aid organisations ability to respond to the humanitarian crisis there.

The decision to partially reopen it was made in accordance with the “directive of the political echelon,” Israel's airports authority said.

Palestinians in the West Bank have lived under Israeli military occupation since 1967. There have been growing calls from some Israeli politicians to annex the territory, drawing alarm from Arab countries.

Those fears have been heightened by Israel's plans for new settlements in an ultra-sensitive area east of Jerusalem known as E1. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been open about saying that this would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. His comments came two days after he met Arab leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Israeli troops regularly use force in the West Bank in what are typically described as counter-terrorism operations. Attacks by Israeli settlers have also increased, although they are rarely punished by the authorities.

The crossing's closure comes shortly after a number of western nations recognised a Palestinian state − to which Israel has vowed a harsh response.

Israeli media reported that the closure order came from the country’s political leadership. Officials managing the crossing “have not yet received an explanation for the closure”, said Itay Blumenthal, a military correspondent for Channel 11.

Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti said the decision “practically imprisons the whole Palestinian population in the West Bank”.