Jordan's King Abdullah II and Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah visited the Baqoura area on the northern border of the kingdom a day after Jordan's full sovereignty was imposed on it with the completion of the annexes to the peace agreement with Israel.
On Sunday, King Abdullah officially announced the end of the two annexes of the peace agreement, which allowed the Israelis to lease the lands of Baqoura and immersion for a quarter of a century.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told a news conference in Amman on Monday that Jordan would allow Israeli farmers to harvest their crops in the flood, saying it would take two months.
Enforce the visa
Safadi added that Jordan would require Israelis to apply for a visa for those who wanted to enter Baqoura.
The Jordanian foreign minister was scheduled to hold the press conference in Baqoura after announcing its return from Israel, but the Foreign Ministry said it had decided to hold the conference in Amman.
According to the annexes of the peace agreement signed between the two sides on October 26, 1994, Israel was given the right to dispose of the lands of Baqoura and Ghamr for a period of 25 years, which will be renewed automatically if the Jordanian government does not inform Israel of its desire to reclaim these lands a year before the expiration of the term The kingdom did this when King Abdullah II decided last year to reclaim land from Israeli tutelage.
Al-Baqoura is located east of the junction of the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers in Irbid governorate (north), and its total area is estimated at about 6,000 dunams (dunum is equal to one thousand square meters).
The inundation is located in Wadi Araba area in Aqaba Governorate (south).
The Jordanian authorities began on Sunday to prevent the Israelis from entering the Jordanian lands in Baqoura and inundation, which the Israelis call "Nahariyem" after the expiration of the contract that allowed Israeli farmers to work in those lands.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry deplored the Jordanian decision to put an end to the special arrangements in the areas of Baqoura and Ghamr.
Jordan will continue to respect the private property rights of Israelis in the Baqoura area, and will allow Israeli farmers in the Ghamr area to harvest what has been planted before the decision, it said in a statement.
An official source at the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said that Jordan exercised its legal right embodied in the agreement not to renew the two annexes, and also respected its legal obligation to respect any rights derived from the agreement, which is limited to respecting private property in Baqoura and allowing the harvesting of what was planted before the expiry of the attachments. According to Jordanian law.
He added that with regard to Baqoura, the peace agreement recognized the private ownership of 820 dunums, and that Jordan would allow any Israeli citizen to prove his ownership to obtain a visa from the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv to enter the Kingdom through official borders, and would respect the right of ownership according to Jordanian law.
The source explained that the immersion lands are land owned by the treasury, and that the agreement granted Israel the right to benefit from them ended with the completion of the annexes.
According to Agence France-Presse that the yellow gate leading to a bridge over the river that separates the two countries from which Israeli farmers enter to Baqoura was closed.