Water: A New Source of Tension Between Israel, Jordan

Arab World

March 27th, 7:46am

Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he delivers a speech to supporters following the announcement of exit polls in Israel's general election at his Likud party headquarters in Jerusalem March 24, 2021. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Israeli-Jordanian ties have witnessed tension after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to provide Amman with additional amounts of water. Netanyahu’s approach reflects the depth of the crisis between Israel and Jordan, part of which seems to be related to personal friction between the prime minister and King Abdullah, according to Haaretz newspaper. Israeli officials who are in close contact with the Jordanians expressed their concerns over Netanyahu’s moves and over the growing tension between the two countries. They said that Netanyahu was deliberately endangering the stability of the peace accords due to the personal hostility between him and the king and his entourage. The officials noted, among other things, that Jordan bolsters its border with Israel with additional security forces, relieving the Israeli army from having to allocate units to foil infiltrations or weapons smuggling. Relations between Netanyahu and King Abdullah have been troubled for years, despite the meetings and phone conversations they hold from time to time. In the summer of 2017, a serious dispute erupted over the placement of metal detectors at the entrance to Temple Mount, while around the same time a security guard at the Israeli embassy in Amman shot and killed two Jordanian civilians. Abdullah agreed to release the guard but was furious at Netanyahu for giving him a hero’s welcome and posing for a photo with the guard. Netanyahu was recently quoted as saying that “the Jordanians need us much more than we need them.” Journalists who are close to him write disparagingly about Jordan, depicting Abdullah as irrelevant and presenting Jordan as a weak state whose importance is diminishing against the backdrop of Israel’s normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates. The defense establishment strongly disputes this assessment and views Jordan as a critical ally for Israel’s security. The crisis between the two countries was exacerbated in recent weeks, mainly due to the cancellation of Netanyahu’s visit to the Emirates this month. The new tension began with a proposed visit by Jordan’s Prince Hussein to Jerusalem. The prince, Abdullah’s son, was supposed to visit Temple Mount, but a dispute developed over security arrangements. The Jordanians demanded that the prince be accompanied by dozens of their own armed bodyguards, some of whom would carry rifles, not just pistols. A compromise was reached with the Shin Bet security service regarding the number of guards and the weapons they would carry, but then another dispute broke out over the prince’s wish to visit some churches in the city, outside the Temple Mount compound. The Shin Bet objected and the Jordanians canceled the visit. Netanyahu continued to violate the two countries’ peace agreement. According to the peace, Israel regularly transfers water it pumps out of the Jordan River to Jordan. Jordan often requests additional amounts when the kingdom experiences dry spells. Israel mostly accedes to these requests without any problem.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2884506/water-new-source-tension-between-israel-jordan