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Amman, Jordan – Jordanian King Abdullah II said on Sunday that he had decided not to renew parts of his country's historic peace treaty with Israel.
Abdullah issued a statement that he intended to separate from two annexes of the 1994 peace agreement that allowed Israel to lease two small areas, Baqura and Ghamr, to Jordanians for a period of five years. 25 years old. Leases expire next year and the deadline to renew them is Thursday.
The land was leased to Jewish farmers early in the last century, then became part of Jordan after the Kingdom's independence in 1946.
Baqura, in the northern Jordan Valley, was captured by Israel in 1950. Ghamr, near Aqaba, in southern Jordan, was seized during the 1967 war.
As part of their peace agreement, Jordan has agreed to grant Israeli farmers and military officers free access to the enclave.
Abdullah said that he had informed Israel of his decision. "We exercise our full sovereignty over our land," he said. "In these regional circumstances, our priority is to protect our interests and do all that is necessary for Jordan and Jordanians."
Abdullah did not explain his decision, but he had to face increasing internal pressure to end the lease and bring the territories back under Jordanian control. Last week, protesters demanding the end of Israeli ownership of land marched in the Jordanian capital, Amman, last week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that "Jordan reserves the right to receive the territory", but said it intends to start negotiations with Jordan "on the possibility of extending the". existing agreement ".
Netanyahu said that "the agreement as a whole is an important thing" and called the peace accords with Jordan and Egypt "anchor of regional stability". He delivered a speech at the memorial to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the peace agreement with Jordan.
The former Israeli ambassador to Jordan, Oded Eran, said that he was not surprised by Jordan's decision and said that there was still time for them. two countries to renegotiate the agreement. He dismissed the possibility of Jordan withdrawing from other parts of the broader peace treaty.
"For its own sake, maintaining membership of the peace treaty is in the interest of both Jordan and Israel," Eran added.
Tensions between Israel and Jordan have increased in recent months over issues such as the disputed status of Jerusalem and its holy sites, the blocking of peace talks in the Middle East and the firing of two Jordanian citizens by guard of the Israeli Embassy in Amman, which triggered a diplomatic crisis.
Relations were thawed after Israel 's replacement of the ambassador in Amman and Netanyahu met with Abdullah last summer to highlight the importance of economic and security cooperation between the two countries.
