AMMAN — Various groups and associations
in the agricultural sector expressed opposition to remarks made by the
Minister of Agriculture Khaled Hneifat during a news conference on Sunday in which he
urged the sector to capitalize on 25 years of Jordanian-Israeli relations.
اضافة اعلان
“No doubt, our imports from the Israeli
market are close to zero, and our exports of some types of vegetables are low
and insignificant to the agricultural sector … we have had relations with the
Israeli side for the past 25 years, and we must take advantage of those
relations in the interest of the agricultural sector and the Jordanian
economy,” Hneifat said while announcing the National Sustainable Agricultural
Plan for 2022–2025.
Chairman of
Agriculture Input Producers and Dealers Association Loay Baybars told
Jordan News that he disagreed
with the minister's statement as he believes that Israel would not benefit the
sector at all, noting that during the best times of Jordanian-Israeli
relationships, exports to Israel did not exceed 9 percent of the volume of
agricultural exports and 7.5 percent of its value.
"Since the Wadi-Araba agreement and
until now, the revenue that the sector earned leans towards loss and not
towards profit," Baybars said. He explained that Jordan should alternatively
focus on exporting to Syria since Jordan's exports to Syria through its borders
have reached 65 percent of total Jordanian agricultural exports.
Baybars said that even if Jordan was to
benefit from Israel’s advanced agricultural technology, “Israel would not
transfer any technology that could help Jordan, because Turkey holds a more
superior position.” According to
Baybars, relations with Israel have been “more harmful than beneficial.”
The president of the
Jordanian Agriculture Engineers, Abdelhadi Al-Falahat, rejected normalization with Israel
in “concept and purport.” Rather than expanding
agricultural relations with Israel he said that the agricultural sector should
focus more on Arab relations and on trade with Arab countries.
"We believe that our sector is
highly efficient, we have the resources, and so long as they are an occupying
state, we do not believe in the value of any relationship with them," he
said.
On the potential of agricultural
technology transfer from Israel, Falahat stated “the world is open today for
any exchange, and there are many other countries that have advanced technologies
on the Arab and international levels,"
Opposition to the minister’s views on
trading with Israel was shared with the president of the Jordanian Farmers
Union Mahmoud Al-Oran, who told
Jordan News that farmers entirely reject
any normalization with Israel due to "its flagrant practices and its daily
violations of all international laws."
Oran voiced concern for “the Jordanian
identity” as a result of trading with Israel, recalling an incident when Israel
imported olives from Jordan to produce olive oil and later marketed the oil as
a product of Jerusalem. "How can I trust them? They will harm the
Jordanian produce," he added.
Jordan News tried to contact Minister Hniefat but received no response.
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