The attack carried a resemblance to an incident where an Israeli Army clerk
fired on a group of Palestinians in the
Hebron vegetable market on 1 January 1997, wounding seven. He too was found to be mentally unstable by the Israeli authorities. There were reports from Amman that hundreds of Jordanian soldiers had lined up to donate blood at the hospital where the girls were taken. A specialized medical team diagnosed him with
antisocial personality disorder. On March 16, 1997, a few days after the attack,
King Hussein of Jordan personally apologized for the incident, traveling to Israel to visit and pay respects to the grieving families of the seven murdered girls during the traditional Jewish mourning ceremony known as
shiva. King Hussein's visit to the parents of the victims was broadcast live in Israel and Jordan. During the visit, in which King Hussein stood alongside
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he expressed an apology on behalf of the
Kingdom of Jordan telling the parents, "Your daughter is like my daughter. Your loss is my loss." He added that they were all "members of one family" and that the shooting was "a crime that is a shame for all of us... I feel as if I have lost a child of my own. If there is any purpose in life it will be to make sure that all the children no longer suffer the way our generation did." Afterwards King Hussein also visited the wounded schoolgirls in the hospital, and offered to provide financial compensation to the families affected by the attack. King Hussein's sincere act was an unusual act in the history of the
Arab–Israeli conflict which deeply moved the mourning Israeli public and helped improve the relationship between the two countries after the attack. Nevertheless, various Jordanian individuals and groups criticized King Hussein's act for prostrating himself before Israel.
2011: Jordanian justice minister calls for Daqamseh's release On February 14, 2011, Jordan's new justice minister
Hussein Mjalli joined dozens of protesters in demanding the early release of Daqamseh. Mjalli previously served as the defense lawyer of Daqamseh in his 1997 trial. As an
Arab nationalist opposed to the 1994
Israel–Jordan peace treaty, Mjalli views Daqamseh as a hero who should not be in prison. The
Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that Mjalli's comments were received in Israel with "revulsion and shock." Israeli Embassy spokeswoman Merav Horsandi said it "is difficult for us to comprehend how there are people who support the release of a cold-blooded murderer of young children." The petition called for a special pardon to release him. The cause of the petition is that Daqamseh allegedly finished his sentence. The families of the seven murdered schoolgirls expressed outrage over the petition and vowed to do everything in their power to thwart Daqamseh's release. Nurit Fatihi, mother of Sivan Fatihi, said: "I expected [Daqamseh] to rot in jail, but I see I can’t count on the Jordanian court and authorities to promote justice. We’ve addressed government officials in the past, but it didn’t really help... Just like I will never see my daughter again, so too he does not deserve to see his family. Every one of the girls would have a family and children by now." On April 15, 2013, during
Yom Hazikaron, the families of the victims held a memorial service in front of the Jordanian embassy in
Ramat Gan. At the end of the ceremony, the Jordanian ambassador, Walid Khalid Obeidat, invited the parents into the embassy, and assured them that Daqamesh would not be released at the time.
2017: Daqamseh is released from prison On 12 March 2017, Daqamseh was released, after completing his prison term of 20 years. "We respect the Jordanian judiciary, and now we can only remember the image of King Hussein consoling the families of the victims," commented
Alice Wells, then American ambassador to Jordan, when asked about the embassy's opinion on Daqamseh's release. == References ==