July 9, 2021: Israel and Jordan reached an agreement on Thursday for the Jewish state to sell unprecedented amounts of water to the kingdom, while Jordan’s exports to the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank increased significantly.
The agreements ended during a meeting between their foreign ministers, signaling better relations with Israel’s new government after years of tensions under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Water resource cooperation between Israel and Jordan has been a major issue since the 1994 peace agreement, but relations between neighboring countries have deteriorated in recent years.
At a meeting just inside the Jordanian border, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and his counterpart Ayman Safadi approved the sale of 50 million cubic meters of water to Israel’s neighbor. An Israeli official said he would effectively double this year’s supply – which was measured between May 2021 and May 2022 – as 50 million cubic meters were already being sold or delivered to Jordan. A Jordanian official said that Israel gives 30 million cubic meters of kingdom annually under the 1994 peace agreement. Statements from both governments confirmed the sale and said the final details of the transaction would be decided in the coming days.
Gidon Bromberg, Israeli director for EcoPeace Middle East, a leading organisation on regional water cooperation that operates in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan – described the water sale as “the largest quantity ever sold between the two countries”.
“It is a true ‘watershed’ event,” said Bromberg. “It represents an understanding of mutual interests and how countries in the region need to cooperate if we are to survive the tremendous challenges to water and national security that the climate crisis presents.”
Jordan is one of the world’s largest water-storage countries, and experts say the country, with a population of 10 million, is experiencing the worst drought in its history. Israel, which also faces water pressure, is a world leader in desalination.
On Palestinian trade, both sides have confirmed that since 1967, Jordan’s potential exports to the Israeli-occupied West Bank will increase from a maximum of 160 160 million to 700 700 million annually. Jordan’s top envoy said in a statement that he and Lipid also discussed the path to “a just and comprehensive peace” between Israel and the Palestinians. “The Kingdom of Jordan is an important neighbor and partner,” Lapid said.
Jordan said technical teams would provide details in the coming days, and Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian officials would discuss implementation of the export ceiling.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported on Thursday that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had secretly visited Jordan last week and met with King Abdullah II at his palace in Amman. It was reportedly the first meeting between the king and the Israeli prime minister in more than five years. Palestinian sources said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with King Abdullah after meeting with Bennett. Bilateral relations escalated under Netanyahu, who was barred from using the Jordanian air force earlier this year, and thwarted his first visit to the UAE.
Netanyahu was replaced by Bennett last month, whose coalition has indicated that warm relations with Jordan are a foreign policy priority. Israel and Jordan reconciled in 1994 and maintained close security ties, but in recent years Palestinian tensions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the expansion of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories and the lack of any progress in relations Relations have been strained due to Long-term peace process
Both Jordan and the Palestinians strongly opposed the Trump administration’s Middle East plan, which would have allowed Israel to annex one-third of the occupied West Bank. Israel captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war, an area the Palestinians want as part of their future state. The announcements came just days before Jordan’s King Abdullah II visited the White House. The Biden administration has called on all parties to take steps that could lead to the resumption of possible peace talks.
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