Israel’s political turmoil leaves economic peace with Jordan on hold
The Dead Sea is experiencing water level falls, seen from southern Israel, October 2017
Danny Zaken writes in Al-Monitor:
There were no celebrations or even ceremonies to mark the 25th anniversary of Israel’s peace agreement with Jordan. If anything, mentions of it tended to be negative. According to a report by Ksenia Svetlova for Al-Monitor, King Abdullah refuses to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, Jordan rejected Israel’s request to extend the period during which Israeli farmers can continue to work their fields in the Tzohar and Naharayim enclaves now that the Israeli lease has expired. Instead, Jordan offered financial restitution for any crops left in the fields.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met about this issue with Israel’s national security adviser, Meir Ben Shabbat. Though he praised the security relationship between the two countries, he said, among other things, that delays in joint economic initiatives are harming relations between Israel and Jordan, mentioning the Sea-to-Sea or Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal project specifically.
Israel is constantly looking eastward to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It serves as a barrier between Israel and Iraq, a nation in turmoil with real Iranian influence on its beleaguered government. Then beyond Iraq is Iran itself, a regional power that poses a threat to Israel. Two government ministers who spoke with Al-Monitor said that a stable Jordan is a top Israeli national interest and that Israel should take steps to ensure that the country does not fall to Islamist forces, since they would likely turn Israel’s eastern border into a hostile front.
Unfortunately, this sense of urgency isn’t felt at all on the economic level. For Israel, trade relations with Jordan are relatively minor, amounting to just one-third of a percent of all of Israel’s overseas trade (about 2 billion shekels in 2018, about $570 million). As for Jordan, exports to Israel make up about 4% of the country’s total exports per year.