[ad_1]
AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordan announced to Israel on Sunday that it would not renew the lease of two tracts of territory along its border for a period of 25 years, giving Israel certain rights in under a 1994 peace treaty, but Israel lease.
Under the treaty, Israel has retained private land ownership and special travel rights in Baquora, in the north-west of the kingdom, and in Ghumar, in the south.
King Abdullah, who is under increasing pressure from the public to put an end to leasing agreements with Israel, told senior political figures that the kingdom wanted to exercise "full sovereignty" over the two regions. announced the Petra News Agency.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country will negotiate with Jordan for a 25-year lease extension. [J7N1RM01W]
Netanyahu, in public statements, said that Jordan wanted to implement its option to terminate the lease and that Israel would "enter into negotiations with it on the possibility of extending the current agreement".
Under an annex to the peace agreement, Israel has leased about 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of agricultural land in the southern sector of its border with Jordan, as well as a small area called "The Island of Peace" near the Sea of Galilee.
The 25 year lease expires next year.
Under the terms of the peace treaty, the lease would be automatically renewed unless one of the parties notifies the other, one year before the expiration, its willingness to terminate the lease. agreement, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Report by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Additional report by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; edited by John Stonestreet and Adrian Croft
