Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Middle East

Israeli farmers concerned about Jordan ending land lease

Associated Press
Published | Updated
  • 6b7a4f6b-
    Image 1 of 2

    A Jordanian flag flies on a bridge leading from Israel to Jordan, in the Jordan valley area called Baqura, Jordanian territory that was leased to Israel under the 1994 peace agreement between the two countries, Monday, Oct. 22, 2018. Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday said he has decided not to renew the lease on two small areas of Baqura and Ghamr, that was part of his country's landmark peace treaty with Israel. The leases expire next year after 25 years. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

  • 81e4eed0-
    Image 2 of 2

    A Jordanian flag flies on a bridge leading from Israel to Jordan in the Jordan valley area called Baqura, Jordanian territory that was leased to Israel under the 1994 peace agreement between the two countries, Monday, Oct. 22, 2018. Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday said he has decided not to renew the lease on two small areas of Baqura and Ghamr, that was part of his country's landmark peace treaty with Israel. The leases expire next year after 25 years. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

TSOFAR, Israel – Israeli farmers on Monday voiced concern over Jordan's intention not to renew parts of its landmark peace treaty with Israel that leased out two small border areas for agriculture, as Jordanians on the other side of the border welcomed the decision.

Jordan's King Abdullah II announced Sunday that he plans to pull out of annexes from the 1994 peace agreement that allowed Israel to lease Ghamr and the northern enclave of Baqura for 25 years. The leases expire next year.

His decision reflects what have become cool relations between the kingdom and Israel. Last week saw a large protest against renewing the agriculture lease.

Eran Baron, an Israeli farmer in the border village of Tsofar, said that farmers like him have invested lots of resources in Ghamr, along the southern border near Aqaba.

He said he has not yet heard of any formal change in the current arrangement, but if denied access to his crops, he said "we will not be able to survive here."

The two parcels of land are just a few square kilometers (square miles) that have been used by Israelis for decades. But they hold symbolic meaning for Jordan.

While Jordan remains committed to its peace agreement, Israel's second with an Arab country, relations are limited largely to behind-the-scenes security ties and some environmental cooperation.

In the Jordanian capital, Amman, resident Jehad Mahmoud Abu Gosh praised the king's decision.

"Maybe Israel will not like it but this decision is very good. These are Jordanian lands and they are back to us. So it gives us hope and now we have something for us," he said.

Jordan has grown critical of Israel due to a standstill in peace efforts with the Palestinians and differences over Jerusalem, where Jordan serves as custodian of Islamic shrines.

Relations deteriorated last year after an Israeli guard at the Israeli embassy in Amman shot and killed two Jordanians, saying one, a teenager, had tried to attack him with a screwdriver and that a second person was hit in the crossfire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu infuriated the Jordanians by arranging a hero's welcome for the guard. Diplomatic relations were repaired only gradually.

Netanyahu has said he will try to renegotiate the lease arrangements.

___

Associated Press correspondent Laure Van Ruymbeke in Amman, Jordan contributed.