As the nation-wide siren sounds on Sunday evening, marking the start of Israel's Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism, the students of the all-girls' AMIT Shachar school in Beit Shemesh will be protesting at the Jordanian Embassy in Ramat Gan. The protest aims to combat recent calls in Jordan to release imprisoned Jordanian soldier Ahmad Musa Mustafa Daqamseh, who shot and killed seven Israeli schoolgirls during a school trip on the Israel-Jordan border in 1997. The seven victims were from the AMIT Shachar school. School principal Rabbi Eran Daum said Sunday that the families of the victims, and the school community, were shocked at recent efforts to release Daqamseh. "On the eve of Memorial Day, of all days, when the wounds are reopened, more than 100 Jordanian parliament members urge the court to pardon the murderer," Daum said. "We decided to hold our Memorial Day ceremony across from the embassy to make it clear that the memory of those girls has not been forgotten, and that we will fight and protest this criminal decision." Maqamseh shot the seven girls from close range while they were on a trip to the "Isle of Peace" in Naharayim. The murders rocked the world, and the late Jordanian King Hussein personally visited the homes of the victims' families to offer condolences. Recently, a petition has been signed by 110 of the 150 members of the lower house of the Jordanian parliament, calling for the Maqamseh's early release from prison. "If Hussein were still alive, this [the move to release the killer] would never have happened. This murderer killed seven girls and he should die in prison," Shlomo Bedayev, the father of victim Shiri Bedayev, said. Nurit Patichi, the mother of another victim, Sivan Patichi, said, "He killed seven girls and should serve seven life sentences, not get early parole. We will do everything in our power to prevent his release. We will approach the Jordanian embassy."
