Jordan accepts Israel's choice of new ambassador

Jordan has green-lighted Israel's choice of new ambassador to the kingdom as relations between the two countries improve following a months-long dispute.

Government spokesman Mohammed Momani said on Thursday that the envoy, Amir Weissbrod, "can start his mission any time now".

Diplomatic relations between Jordan and Israel deteriorated after a security guard at the Israeli embassy in Amman shot and killed two Jordanians - the guard alleged that one of the victims had attacked him with a screw driver.

When the Israeli guard, Ziv Moyal, returned home, he was given a hero's welcome by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. News of the incident infuriated Jordan.

Israel has since apologised for the shooting, promising to compensate the victims' families.

The Israeli embassy in Jordan was reopened in February.

The posting of a new Israeli ambassador would end one of the tensest diplomatic episodes since the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1994. 

Weissbrod is a career diplomat who is fluent in Arabic. He was previously posted as first secretary in Israel's Jordan embassy between 2001 and 2004, according to The Times of Israel.

The previous ambassador, Einat Schlein, hurriedly left Amman in July along with Moyal. An understanding was reached in January between Jordan and Israel that Schlein would not return to the country.

Momani had previously said in January that Israel agreed to all of Jordan's preconditions for resuming diplomatic relations, including pressing legal charges against the security guard. 

But an Israeli diplomatic source told Reuters soon after that the guard would not be prosecuted. 

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