Some 20 Jordanians detained in Israel released

The official spokeswoman for the Jordanian government, Asmaa Khuder, expected the release of 18 to 20 Jordanian prisoners in the Israeli jails before or during the visit of the Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom to Amman due today.

The spokeswoman said in a statement that the Jordanian officials visited the Jordanian prisoners in the areas of their detention and their national numbers were identified with the national numbers.

Relatives to the families of the prisoners said earlier in the day that a new group of Jordanian prisoners and detainees held by Israel were to be released within hours, and they were due to arrive later in the day on Tuesday. Khuder indicated that the problem of the four Jordanian prisoners who were arrested before the Jordanian- Israeli peace treaty in 1994 is still valid, and expressed the worries of the Jordanian government over not releasing those Jordanians.

Israel released on November 25 some Jordanian prisoners and the Jordanian authorities said that those constitute the first shift of 81 Jordanian prisoners in the Israeli jails, negotiations are made for releasing them.