Construction to start soon on upgraded security barrier on Jordan border

Initial construction work is set to begin in the coming weeks on the first two sections of an upgraded security barrier along the border with Jordan, the Defense Ministry announces.

The first section will be built between the Hamat Gader hot springs at the southern edge of the Golan Heights and the community of Yardena. The second section will be between the Jordan Valley checkpoint and the settlement of Yafit.

The two sections are some 40 kilometers (25 miles) total in length.

In all, the project to upgrade Israel’s fence along the entire 425 kilometers (264 miles) of the border with Jordan — from the Samar Sands north of Eilat, through the West Bank, to the southern Golan Heights — will cost an estimated NIS 5.5 billion ($1.7 billion), the ministry says.

The ministry says it has completed tenders for the work on the first two sections, which will include “earthworks and drainage, road and highway rehabilitation, establishment of water and sewage infrastructure, electrical and communications systems, and more.”

Alongside the construction work, the ministry says it will continue work with the IDF in planning the next sections, “formulating the defensive concept for the border and the means required for it.”

Weapons smuggling is a constant challenge for Israel along its long, porous eastern border with Jordan. Unlike Israel’s other frontiers — with Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria — the border with Jordan is largely open, often without significant fencing, and guarding is limited, making it an easy channel for large-scale smuggling.

On the Jordan border, the IDF recently established a new regional unit, known as the 96th “Gilad” Division, which is set to operate from the Israel-Jordan-Syria tri-border area in the north down to the Ramon Airport in southern Israel. Currently, it is tasked with the northern half of the border, in the Jordan Valley.