Israelis have no access since Sunday, November 10 to agricultural land lent by Jordan during the last quarter of a century as part of a peace agreement between the two neighboring countries. And for good reason, the validity of the agreement comes to an end.
>> Read on France 24: Jordan wants to recover agricultural land lent to Israel since 1994
Israel's regrets
The annexes to the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty authorized the "free availability" of land in the Baqoura / Naharayim and Ghoumar / Tzofar areas to private Israeli owners for an initial period of 25 years. They have not been renewed. "I proclaim the end of the validity of the annexes of the peace agreement concerning Baqoura and Ghoumar, and the restoration of our total sovereignty over these territories," King Abdullah II of Jordan said in front of the Parliament in Amman on Sunday. In Israel, the Foreign Ministry said it "regrets the decision of Jordan".
Baqoura in Arabic, or Naharayim in Hebrew, is an area of 6 km2 located at the confluence of the Jordan and Yarmouk, on the northern part of the Israeli-Jordanian border. Ghoumar, called Tzofar in Hebrew, is an area of about 4 km2, on the line separating the two countries in the south.
On Sunday, in Naharayim, two yellow gates leading to an old dam and further to a checkpoint were chained and locked, preventing access to the site now under Jordanian control, according to an AFP team there.
A unique site
According to local officials, Israeli soldiers came on the scene the day before at the end of the day to lock in the access to the site, on the Israeli side.
On a hill on the other side, military vehicles circulated and a Jordanian flag floated between two large tents where a ceremony was to be held on Monday in the presence of Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.
"It's a big loss," lamented Adva Algarisi, a manager of a local tourism company in Israel, who regularly brought visitors to the site on guided tours.
"It is near the lake (of Tiberias), Christian sites, holy places (...) we talked about the relationship with Jordan, the peace process, the coexistence with our neighbors, it is a unique site "said the 46-year-old woman who grew up in this area of northeastern Israel.
The visa's sesame
Farmers from two neighboring kibbutz also grew cereals, fruits, including pretty watermelons, and vegetables on these lands rocked by the sun-drenched Jordan Valley.
"Two weeks ago, and last week again, I asked the Jordanians to be able to sow and work on the land, but they banned it," said Shay Hadar, 47.
Jordan's recovery of these lands is not a surprise. In October 2018, King Abdullah II notified Israel of his desire to recover these border areas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then said he wanted to open negotiations to maintain the status quo, but no agreement was reached to extend the agreement, which irritates many Israelis on the spot.
Light balm? The Jordanian authorities said on Sunday that they would allow Israeli farmers to cultivate their fields across the border, but after receiving a visa from the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv.
But Jordan had recalled its ambassador in Tel Aviv at the end of October to protest the detention without charge in Israel of two young Jordanians, who have, however, been released in recent days.
On Monday, Jordanian diplomat Ayman Safadi is scheduled to hold a ceremony in Baqoura, also referred to by the Israelis as "the island of peace," although seven schoolgirls on a school trip were killed there by a Jordanian soldier in 1997.
In the aftermath of the killings, the Jordanian king, Hussein at the time, had gone to the home city of schoolgirls in Israel to make an official apology on behalf of his country.
With AFP