It’s far from a case of looking a gift horse in the mouth, but a present from the Jordanian royal stables has nonetheless seen Israeli officials galloping around trying to prevent a diplomatic row.
According to the Israeli Yediot Ahronot daily, several weeks ago, Jordanian King Abdullah II offered Premier Ariel Sharon an Arabian horse belonging to the Hashemite royal house.
But Israeli law stipulates that every gift received by a premier has to be recorded and stored in the basement of the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, and as Sharon pointed out, ”the gift room has no grass”.
”We informed the Jordanians we have a problem and haven’t been able to resolve it yet. We don’t want to create a diplomatic row here,” the premier told a political meeting on Thursday.
The imbroglio was not resolved when Yediot ran an interview with Sharon’s daughter-in-law several days ago, which carried a photograph of her feeding horses at the premier’s ranch in southern Israel.
”The horse is waiting for you. What are we to do with it?” a Jordanian official inquired in a call to the Prime Minister’s Office, after seeing the photograph.
Officials in Israel are currently examining the possibility of accepting the horse and transfer it to the custody of a guardian, Yediot said. — Sapa-dpa