Jordan said on Monday that Israeli President Shimon Peres had apologised to King Abdullah II for the killing of a Jordanian judge by Israeli troops last week. Peres for his part issued a statement saying he had called Abdullah to express "deep regret" for the shooting of Palestinian Jordanian Raed Zeiter at a border crossing, but the statement stopped short of quoting a full apology.
A Jordan palace statement said Abdullah "received a telephone call from Peres who, as president of the state of Israel, apologised for the martyrdom of Jordanian judge Raed Zeiter". "Peres expressed his regrets for the incident and said he was deeply affected. He said Israel is committed to work together with Jordan on the probe into the incident."
The statement added the king "also received a similar phone call from (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu," without giving further details. Israeli troops on March 10 shot Zeiter, saying he attacked them, igniting a diplomatic row between Israel and the kingdom and sparking furore among Jordanians. Israel had previously expressed regret over the shooting, but stopped short of apologising to Jordan, the only Arab country besides Egypt to have made peace with the Jewish state.