In another 100 days, it will mark 25 years since the signing of the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan, and the end of the document signed regarding Naharayim, known as the Island of Peace. As the deadline draws near, the concerns among farmers increase as King Abdullah II of Jordan may cancel the special arrangement.

Farmers from Ashdot Yaakov have been working the fields of Naharayim for 80 years, and now, they are fearful that they will have to part with their land due to the chill in relations between Jerusalem and Aman. On October 26, 2019, the agreement and arrangement pertaining to Naharayim will expire and new realities may follow.

The agreement was reached between Yitzchak Rabin and King Hussein regarding the ‘Island of Peace”, which has always been a disputed area between Israel and Jordan. It was decided the area is under Jordanian sovereignty while Israel has hold of the land, which is used by kibbutzim including Ashdot Yaakov. The agreement cites that the area is under a “special regime”, but in October, everything may change because some nine months ago, Abdullah announced he does not plan to renew the agreement regarding Naharayim. It is believed this is the result of increasing public pressure in Jordan to cancel the agreement with Israel and to once again place the area under total Jordanian sovereignty. The king used his twitter account to state “Out decision is to cancel the appendices out of a desire to make decisions that will serve Jordan and the Jordanians”.

The head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, Idan Greenbaum, issued a public call to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu saying that “f the special arrangement is not extended, or a solution is not found, the gate will close and probably will not open again”. Greenbaum mentioned it was Yosef Trumpeldor who said, ‘The place where the Jewish plow will plow the last furrow – there will be our border’, and we, our parents and our grandparents, fulfill this commandment in a sharav or in the rain. Mr. Prime Minister, we know that you have a great deal of work these days, and probably the Naharayim enclave is not a priority. Unfortunately, it was also apparently not at the top of your senior officials’ priorities, which do not bother to get back to us by phone to update us…”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)