Raed Awwad-Amman
The restoration of Jordan's lands in the southwest of the country is a new challenge for Amman, to optimize the exploitation of the agricultural areas of four thousand acres, after 25 years of the Israeli occupation authorities, including agricultural and water use.
The vast lands in the southern Jordanian desert, in the eyes of specialists, are a fertile field for desert crops that are well accepted by the Jordanian and Arab streets.
The occupying authorities have in turn exploited the desert lands for advanced cultivation through high quality technologies, most of which are exported to European and American countries.
The agricultural enclave, occupied by Israel in 1968 following the Battle of Dignity and to curb Palestinian guerrilla attacks, meets with the Jewish settlement of Zovar on the eastern side of occupied Palestine, using nanotechnology and computerized irrigation systems.
Residents of the area who visited the enclave recovered from the occupation authorities wished the Jordanian government to use it ideally to reduce the high unemployment rate in the Wadi Araba area, which exceeds 19% according to the Department of Statistics, while official statistics estimate 40% among the youth.
According to international law professor Anis al-Qassem, Israel has drained groundwater after the agreement allowed it to use land for agriculture, which means "above and below ground" to be allowed to achieve its goals.
The end of the desert flooding agreement comes at a time when Jordan is suffering from a continuous deterioration of water year after year, making it the second poorest country in the world water.
The water file in Jordan is not reassuring, according to observers, while the peace agreement allows Israel to dig wells in the Wadi Araba in case of depletion of wells agreed between the two sides, in light of the continued Israeli drainage of groundwater for agriculture in the Negev desert and the south.
In the meantime, the President of the Agricultural Engineers Association, in a statement to the island, called for the optimal use of agricultural and water for the desert pocket, as it is suitable for many seasonal and tropical crops, especially kaka, mango and some desert fruits that are popular in the European Union and America, which will help in the recovery of the region.
He stressed that the Syndicate of Agricultural Engineers is in the process of holding an integrated workshop for many experts of soil, water and environment, in order to discuss the correct scientific ways to revive the areas of Baqoura and Ghamr, after their full restoration from the Israeli occupation authorities.
Jordan's use of the Baqoura and Ghamr areas, which together have an estimated total area of about 10,000 dunams (1,000 dunams), increases the water burden on the country suffering from water poverty.
The area of Baqoura is located at the confluence of the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers, which increases the fertility and production of the land, but the disturbance of the water relationship between Syria has negatively affected Jordan, which did not get its share of the Yarmouk River estimated at 208 million cubic meters annually, and received only ninety million meters as a result of detention. Syria water before it reaches Jordan.
On the other hand, Israel continues to drain the Jordan River and its tributaries for cultivation in the Negev and the South. It diverts Jordan 50 million cubic meters of water a year after it is stored in the Sea of Galilee.
This fact pushes the government, according to observers, to demand the Kingdom's share of water internationally, after the per capita decline in Jordan to about 100 cubic meters of water only annually.