DEAD SEA - Abdul Ilah Hazaimeh recalls that fateful February morning back in 1997 when he led his team of de-miners into the Jordan Valley.
Working along the banks of the Jordan River as a de-miner, Hazaimeh was pointing out a hazardous area to his men when he himself was put in danger.
“I had entered the minefield to warn them against shifting mines and when I turned to leave, it happened,” said Hazaimeh of the Royal Engineer Corps (REC).
“I felt the full force of the explosion under my left foot. All I remember is looking up and seeing the sand silt raining down all around me,” he added.
An expert with years of experience in the field, Hazaimeh, who held a rank of captain in the Jordan Armed Forces at the time, knew exactly what had happened.
“I looked down at my foot and saw blood. That’s when the searing pain set in,” he told The Jordan Times.
With medics standing by to administer first aid, the officer was transported to the nearest hospital and flown to the Royal Medical Services Hospital where he underwent several surgeries.
Hazaimeh said the immediate response saved his foot from possible infection and amputation.
Here on the banks of the Jordan River in the footsteps of biblical history, the brutal legacy of landmines remain fresh.
The REC on Wednesday held a ceremony to highlight the corp’s mine-clearance achievements in the area, after successfully eliminating thousands of mines in the area. These mines, part of defences used by the Kingdom’s Armed Forces during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, contaminated different parts of the Jordan Valley including parts of Aqaba and Wadi Araba, posing a threat to local residents over the years.
For pastoral communities living in the Jordan Valley, it has meant limited access to arable land, risks to their lives and livestock and as in Hazaimeh’s case, a challenge for de-miners to clear them.
In total, over 300,000 landmines littered the country’s soil from several conflicts dating back to 1948. Military records show that Jordan Armed Forces laid 234,000 mines, while 73,000 mines were planted by the Israeli army. Between 1993 and 2007, the REC had cleared more than 15,000 landmines in the Jordan Valley and Aqaba.
Commander of the REC Brigadier General Falah Al Maaytah said the mission to clear mines from the country’s soil was crucial to ensure citizens’ safety and the future growth of the country.
Maaytah noted that various projects have been able to flourish as a result of mine-clearance. Aside from the Baptismal Site, which was cleared in 1997 and opened to tourists, is the Mubarakeh Date Farm along the Jordan River, north of the Dead Sea, which since 1998 has produced one million kilogrammes of world-class dates for annual export.
Mine clearance operations in the North Shuneh, northwest of the Jordan Valley, have also successfully freed up 1.5 million square metres of arable farmland that can now be used by communities to grow fruit and vegetables.
During Wednesday’s ceremony, Maaytah thanked de-miners for their efforts as well as donor countries for their support, particularly the US, Britain, China, Canada, Germany, Norway, Belgium and Spain.
Director of the National Committee for De-mining and Rehabilitation (NCDR) Mohammad Breikat, who has overseen mine-clearance efforts in the south and is currently working in the north of the country, commended the REC’s de-mining efforts.
Breikat added that the NCDR will carry out quality control in some of the cleared minefields to ensure that the land is completely safe before being turned over.
Mine action authorities estimate that more than 7,000 mines are still missing in the Jordan Valley either due to flooding, inaccurate mine records or unreported detonations.
Although there are maps detailing where they were originally planted, some mines may move due to shifting soil, soil erosion and other factors.
Hazaimeh said his accident was the result of a mine that had shifted.
“Although the minefield we were working in was marked according to the proper operating guidelines, a stray mine - most likely from flooding - had been in my path,” he said.
Now a lecturer and instructor at REC, Hazaimeh has come a long way to become the first injured de-mining officer to have graduated with honours from the Command and Staff College. The lieutenant colonel expressed hope that his experience will inspire others.
To the injured de-miners, who were acknowledged by the REC at the ceremony, he made those sentiments known.
“I am proud of each and everyone of my injured colleagues who are with us today,” said Hazaimeh.
“I ask you to be proud of yourself because everybody else is proud of you... The holy water of the Jordan River, the sand, trees and flowers of this valley are proud of you,” he added.