Is
there a genuine change in the current Israeli government’s attitude towards
Jordan that is markedly different from the previous one under
Benjamin Netanyahu? Not even the most optimistic Israeli analyst daresay that Naftali
Bennett can maintain more neighborly relations. His record is that of a staunch
hardliner, and he has often been quoted calling for the “repulsion of
Palestinians from the West Bank” and for them to be sent to Jordan where the “alternative
homeland for Palestinians is”.
اضافة اعلان
I
had a chance to be on hot panel with him on BBC’s program “Global Issues,” and
he looked grumpier than a ferocious beast.
However,
news leaks from Israel had revealed that he had a secret meeting with His
Majesty King Abdullah in Amman before the King’s trip to the US. It was also
revealed that Bennett would be traveling to the US to meet with President Joe
Biden.
The
King and the prime minister will both be in
Washington DC at the same time. There
is speculation that the two could be meeting bilaterally, and both could also
hold a joint session with the US President.
Other
developments that both Jordanian and Israeli media have divulged are even more
surprising. Netanyahu, angered by the King’s resistance to all his schemes in the
so-called “Deal of the Century” and the annexation of West Bank territory had
been denying Jordan wider access to the West Bank’s markets and even denying
Jordan its agreed to share of water from the Jordan River as per the Peace Agreement
of 1994.
After
Bennett’s secret visit to Amman and his proclaimed meeting with King Abdullah
was leaked, all of the issues kept on tap by previous Israeli governments were
allowed to run their course, as were other things which indicate not only more
relaxed relations but greater prospects of cooperation.
Israel
will not only give Jordan the an 50 million cubic meters of water, but will
even sell Jordan an extra 50 million, which Jordan ardently needs during this
hot summer and after a meager rainy season.
Jordan,
whose population almost doubled in the last 10 years to 11 million, needs water
to meet spiraling demand. The price at which the water will be sold was not
revealed by either side. But it seems that water will be a new cross-border good
traded between Jordan and Israel.
Jordan
has always been discontent with the provisions of the 1997 Paris Protocol
signed between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government. The list
included in that protocol virtually denied Jordan any access to the West Bank market.
In contrast, Jordan allows large quantities of
Palestinian goods to be exported to Jordan, or via Jordan to other countries.
So in a way, the West Bank’s surplus with Jordan partly finances the West
Bank’s trade deficit with Israel.
Such
an asymmetric relation could not be sustained. The declared meeting between
Jordan’s Foreign Minister
Ayman Al-Safadi and Israel’s alternative Prime Minster
and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid addressed both water and trade issues. Both
would help the Jordanian economy.
Yet,
Israel can do more. Jordan has excess electricity and Israel, which is making a
bundle off its gas sales to Jordan, should buy electricity from Jordan during
its peak hours. That would help Jordan meet the high cost of electricity
generation.
All of these economic confidence-building
measures are useful, provided both countries make tangible progress on the Palestinians’
right to have their own lands, integrity, and independent state. Let us see
what the winds will bring.
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