Access for Israeli farmers to Jordan border enclave comes to an end Thursday
Foreign Ministry confirms expiry of 6-month extension of lease to work lands at Tzofar, months after Amman resumed control of the area
Israeli farmers will no longer be allowed to enter an agricultural enclave in Jordan from Thursday, as an extension of Israel’s lease on the border land expires.
In November, Jordan resumed control over the Naharayim and Tzofar enclaves, after refusing Israel’s requests to renew the 25-year lease on the lands that was part of the 1994 peace treaty between the countries.
However, an extension of the lease on Tzofar, located in the southern Arava region, was later agreed until the end of April and the area was declared a closed military zone, with access limited only to farmers.
“The sixth month extension period the Jordanians granted us ends tomorrow,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said Wednesday.
Erez Gibori, a farmer from Tzofar, complained alternative lands provided by the state were not as fertile as those in the enclave and the new costs involved were too high.
“We received NIS 22 million ($6.2 million) to cultivate [the lands], but the total expenditure comes to NIS 45 million ($12.8 million). If they don’t help us, no one will likely be able to grow something there,” he told Army Radio.
Farmers’ access to Tzofar had continued since the expiration of the lease despite a visit by Jordan’s King Abdullah II and his son Hussein to the enclave in November, after which he declared, “Jordanian sovereignty over Jordanian land above all else.”
The two also visited Naharayim, which is in the north.
Naharayim, also known as the Isle of Peace, was the site of a deadly March 1997 attack in which a group of schoolgirls from Beit Shemesh were fired upon during an outing to the area. The girls and their unarmed teachers were standing on a hill above an abandoned lake in the enclave when a Jordanian soldier opened fire on them and killed seven of the schoolchildren.
For some 25 years, Jordan and Israel had implemented the annexes of the peace deal regarding Naharayim and Tzofar, which are sovereign Jordanian territories. In late 2018, however, Jordanian officials informed their Israeli counterparts of the kingdom’s intention not to renew them.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in November that Jordan had made an offer to Israel to purchase lands privately owned by Israelis in Naharayim, but said the Jewish state turned it down.
Safadi also said Jordan was still committed to its peace treaty with Israel.
Jordan is one of two Arab states which have formal peace treaties and diplomatic relations with Israel.
While security ties between the two countries have flourished, political relations have soured over a number of issues including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to annex the Jordan Valley and West Bank settlements.
Jordan has long supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which would include the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
Agencies contributed to this report.
