AMMAN – King Abdullah II announced Sunday that Jordan has notified Israelit wants to reclaim two small plots of territory leased under their 1994peace deal.
“We have informed Israel (that we are putting) an end to the application ofthe peace treaty annexes regarding Baqura and Ghumar,” said the king,quoted by official news agency Petra.
But Israel s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he wanted to opennegotiations to keep the current arrangement in place.
The land was leased to Israel for a 25-year renewable period under annexesof the 1994 peace treaty that lay down a one-year notice period, withJordan retaining sovereignty.
“Israel was informed today of the Jordanian decision,” the monarch said,stressing that “Baqura and Ghumar are Jordanian land and will remainJordanian”.
“Baqura and Ghumar have always been at the top of our priorities, and wehave decided to put an end to the application of the peace treaty annexesregarding Baqura and Ghumar,” he added.
Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that he had been informed of Jordan s request.
“As part of the agreement between our two countries, Jordan kept the rightto take back the two areas at the end of the 25-year period,” the premiersaid.
“We will open negotiations on the possibility of prolonging the existingagreement,” he added, as Israel marked the anniversary on the Jewishcalendar of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin s assassination.
Rabin signed the peace agreement with Jordan and was killed by a right-wingJewish extremist in 1995.
“There is no doubt that from an overall point of view, this agreementconstitutes an important and valuable asset for our two countries,”Netanyahu said.
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The agreement on Baqura and Ghumar is automatically renewable unless eitherside gives a year s notice to terminate the deal, “in which case, at therequest of either party, consultations shall be entered into”.
On Friday and Saturday hundreds of Jordanians took to the streets in thekingdom s capital Amman calling on authorities to reclaim the twoterritories.
Ghumar, which covers four square kilometres in the southern Aqaba province,was taken by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.
Baqura, a border area of six square kilometres (2.4 square miles) inJordan s northern Irbid province, was taken by Israeli forces in 1950.
During the peace negotiations, Amman allowed Israel to keep temporarycontrol of Ghumar and Baqura — under the pretext that Israel had alreadybuilt infrastructure and agricultural facilities in the areas — as long asit recognised they were sovereign Jordanian territory.
Lawmaker Saleh al-Armouti told AFP that deputies “had even called for anurgent meeting of parliament to discuss the issue”.
He welcomed the king s decision, hailing it as “a positive step thatrestores dignity to the Jordanian citizen and sovereignty over his land.”
Director of the Al Quds Center for Political Studies Oraib Rantawi saidJordan s request would be a “test of Israeli intentions”.
Political analyst Adel Mahmoud said Jordan could face “pressure” from theUnited States, a key backer of both parties, to push for new negotiationsif the Israeli response was negative but that “the king s decision has fullpopular support”. – APP/AFP
