Jordan Will Not Extend Israel's Use of Its Lands

Despite Israel's expressed interest, King Abdullah of Jordan announced that he will not extend the 25-year agreement that allowed Israel to lease two border areas of Jordan. On Sunday, October 22, Abdullah stated in a meeting with senior officials, "These areas are part of Jordan's territory and will remain part of our land. In the current regional crisis, Jordan wants to defend its national interests." According to the peace treaty signed in 1994 between the two countries, Israeli farmers can lease the agricultural areas of Baquora and Ghamar, located in northwestern Jordan, and gain special access rights to these lands through private ownership. The agreement is set to expire next year, and the Israeli government had indicated its intention to negotiate with Jordanian officials for an extension. King Abdullah, who has faced public pressure in recent years to end this agreement, tweeted on Sunday: "Baquora and Ghamar have always been our top priorities, and we have decided to remove these annexes from the peace treaty and cancel it." In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that his government would certainly negotiate with Jordan on this matter. According to a statement from the Jordanian Foreign Ministry on Sunday, the peace treaty specifies that at the end of the agreement's term, the lease of these two areas will automatically be extended unless one of the parties announces its unwillingness to extend it one year prior to the expiration. Negotiating to end the 'special status' of these areas, which are currently governed by Israeli law, will be very difficult, and Jordan will face legal challenges in reclaiming these areas. Jordan, along with Egypt, is one of the two Arab countries that have signed a peace treaty with Israel and has close security cooperation with it. Economic cooperation between the two countries also expanded last year, with one of the most significant aspects being the import of natural gas from Israel worth billions of dollars. However, the peace treaty with Israel is not popular among the Jordanian public, where support for Palestinians is very strong. Political activists in the country have strongly opposed the extension of this agreement, calling it 'humiliating' and a 'continuation of occupation.' Additionally, issues that have arisen over the Middle East peace process have somewhat cooled relations between the two countries, and the killing of two Jordanian citizens by an Israeli guard at the Israeli embassy in Amman has further heightened tensions. According to an annex to the peace treaty, 405 hectares of agricultural land at the border between the two countries are allocated to Israeli farmers for growing products for export to the United States and Europe. In part of this land, known as Baquora in Jordan and Naharayim in Israel, the 'ownership rights' of Israeli citizens date back to the 1920s when a Russian Jewish engineer received permission from the British government, which then ruled Palestine, to establish a power plant. The 1994 peace treaty confirmed Jordan's ownership of these lands but granted Israelis the right to maintain ownership and access in these areas.