27 nov 2019
Jordan has called on the Israeli occupation to hand over the body of the Palestinian detainee Sami Abu Diak who died of medical negligence at an Israeli prison on Tuesday.
According to Israeli media sources, the Jordanian Embassy in Israel has filed a request asking Israel to hand over Abu Diak's body to his family in Jordan for burial.
The embassy asked for further information about Abu Diak's death circumstances and health condition during his imprisonment.
Abu Diak, 37, died on Tuesday morning in an Israeli jail after a long battle with cancer which was made worse by deliberate medical neglect and maltreatment.
Since the beginning of 2019, five Palestinian political prisoners have died while in Israeli custody due to torture or medical negligence.
According to Israeli media sources, the Jordanian Embassy in Israel has filed a request asking Israel to hand over Abu Diak's body to his family in Jordan for burial.
The embassy asked for further information about Abu Diak's death circumstances and health condition during his imprisonment.
Abu Diak, 37, died on Tuesday morning in an Israeli jail after a long battle with cancer which was made worse by deliberate medical neglect and maltreatment.
Since the beginning of 2019, five Palestinian political prisoners have died while in Israeli custody due to torture or medical negligence.
23 nov 2019
King Hussein of Jordan and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at the White House in 1994
Citing the political gridlock in Israel and decision to indict Netanyahu, monarch expresses 'hope that Israel will be able to determine its future, either in the coming weeks or in the coming months'
Jordan's relations with Israel have sunk to their "worst state" in years due to the ongoing political turmoil currently paralyzing Jerusalem, the country's ruler King Abdullah said Friday.
Speaking at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in New York, Abdullah said that he was not ready to to forego the peace that his father King Hussein "and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin achieved as a symbol of hope and opportunity for Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis."
Given the criminal charges filed against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and continuing deadlock immobilizing the country's political system, the king added that, "we hope that Israel will be able to determine its future, either in the coming weeks or in the coming months."
Abdullah also addressed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's statement last week that Israel's settlements in the West Bank did not violate international law, noting Washington's vital importance in achieving an equitable solution to Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"Anyone who says that peace can be established between Israel and Palestinians without US involvement, does not know the Middle East. We all need the United States to play an integral role between the parties," he said.
Tensions flared between Israel and Jordan in recent weeks after Amman announced that it would not renew a 25-year land lease agreement reached during peace negotiations in 1994.
Earlier this month, the Jordanian areas of Naharayim and Tzofar - known as Baqura and Ghamr in Arabic- were placed back under the full sovereignty of the Hashemite kingdom.
The lands have been privately owned by Israeli entities for decades, but the 1994 deal saw the kingdom retain sovereignty there.
Opinion polls have repeatedly found that the peace treaty with Israel is overwhelmingly opposed by Jordanians, more than half of whom are of Palestinian origin.
Citing the political gridlock in Israel and decision to indict Netanyahu, monarch expresses 'hope that Israel will be able to determine its future, either in the coming weeks or in the coming months'
Jordan's relations with Israel have sunk to their "worst state" in years due to the ongoing political turmoil currently paralyzing Jerusalem, the country's ruler King Abdullah said Friday.
Speaking at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in New York, Abdullah said that he was not ready to to forego the peace that his father King Hussein "and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin achieved as a symbol of hope and opportunity for Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis."
Given the criminal charges filed against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and continuing deadlock immobilizing the country's political system, the king added that, "we hope that Israel will be able to determine its future, either in the coming weeks or in the coming months."
Abdullah also addressed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's statement last week that Israel's settlements in the West Bank did not violate international law, noting Washington's vital importance in achieving an equitable solution to Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"Anyone who says that peace can be established between Israel and Palestinians without US involvement, does not know the Middle East. We all need the United States to play an integral role between the parties," he said.
Tensions flared between Israel and Jordan in recent weeks after Amman announced that it would not renew a 25-year land lease agreement reached during peace negotiations in 1994.
Earlier this month, the Jordanian areas of Naharayim and Tzofar - known as Baqura and Ghamr in Arabic- were placed back under the full sovereignty of the Hashemite kingdom.
The lands have been privately owned by Israeli entities for decades, but the 1994 deal saw the kingdom retain sovereignty there.
Opinion polls have repeatedly found that the peace treaty with Israel is overwhelmingly opposed by Jordanians, more than half of whom are of Palestinian origin.
10 nov 2019
25 years of visits to the Jordan River enclave come to an end as Amman reclaims territory leased to its neighbor as the two countries signed the 1994 peace treaty
On Saturday, at 16:25, Ben and Lotan, two soldiers in the IDF Armored corps, closed the yellow gate leading to the "Island of Peace" in Naharayim, ending 25 years of Israeli visits to the site. video video
Thousands came over the last few days to seize the opportunity and visit the location for the last time before its closure.
In October of last year, Jordan's King Abdullah notified Israel that his country would not renew the deal over Naharayim, a spot of land where the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers meet, and another location deep in the Negev Desert, south of the Dead Sea, where Israeli farmers have large plantations, known in Hebrew as Tzofar.
Under the 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, the two areas were recognized as under Jordanian sovereignty but gave Israel special provision to use the land and allow Israelis free access. Furthermore, at Naharayim, Israeli private property rights were respected.
The Naharayim enclave has become over the years a tourist attraction, holding within it the Island of Peace and the abandoned Rutenberg hydro-electric power plant - the first electricity plant in Israel and built in 1932.
The Island of Peace has come to include and a memorial to a deadly 1997 terror attack at the site that killed seven Israeli schoolgirls.
On March 13, 1997, the AMIT Fuerst Zionist religious junior high school from Beit Shemesh was on a class trip to the Jordan Valley, and the Island of Peace. A Jordanian soldier named Ahmed Daqamseh opened fire at the children, killing seven girls aged 13 and 14 and badly wounding six others.
Daqamseh was apprehended by Israeli authorities and served a 20-year prison sentence, eventually being released in 2017.
Yisrael Fatihi, whose daughter Sivan died in the terror attack, said that although he will no longer be able to visit the memorial at the site, he will visit teh area to look at it from afar.
"The area (Naharayim) is not holy to me, the memorial site on its grounds is," he said. "Every Tu B'Shvat, families would go up there, plant trees and take hikes.
"It saddens me I won't be able to visit it again. I'll still come and look at it, from 300 meters away," he said.
Inbal Ravid from Gedara also made her way to the site to make her final farewell.
"We came to say goodbye and it's so weird, so superfluous," she says. "Both sides are to blame, the Israeli government should have prepared ahead and not dealt with a third election."
Ffiteen-year-old Naor Chelouche from Acre, on his first visit to the island, emphasized the importance of young Israelis visiting the location.
"Personally, I don't think we should give the enclave back. Many Israeli farmers make their living working here and it's a shame for them to be harmed," said Chelouche.
Avner Ron, a resident from nearby Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov Ihud and a tour guide at the site for many years, looked glumly at the last visitors and across the Jordan Valley.
"I don't know what I am going to do now. I don’t know if I've lost my job. Thankfully I live on a kibbutz or else I would be unemployed," he said.
After the many visitors to the island left, the Jordanian government on Saturday the residents of Ashdot Ya'akov Ihud to say farewell to the area. Their visit was the last entry by Israelis to the site.
On Saturday, at 16:25, Ben and Lotan, two soldiers in the IDF Armored corps, closed the yellow gate leading to the "Island of Peace" in Naharayim, ending 25 years of Israeli visits to the site. video video
Thousands came over the last few days to seize the opportunity and visit the location for the last time before its closure.
In October of last year, Jordan's King Abdullah notified Israel that his country would not renew the deal over Naharayim, a spot of land where the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers meet, and another location deep in the Negev Desert, south of the Dead Sea, where Israeli farmers have large plantations, known in Hebrew as Tzofar.
Under the 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, the two areas were recognized as under Jordanian sovereignty but gave Israel special provision to use the land and allow Israelis free access. Furthermore, at Naharayim, Israeli private property rights were respected.
The Naharayim enclave has become over the years a tourist attraction, holding within it the Island of Peace and the abandoned Rutenberg hydro-electric power plant - the first electricity plant in Israel and built in 1932.
The Island of Peace has come to include and a memorial to a deadly 1997 terror attack at the site that killed seven Israeli schoolgirls.
On March 13, 1997, the AMIT Fuerst Zionist religious junior high school from Beit Shemesh was on a class trip to the Jordan Valley, and the Island of Peace. A Jordanian soldier named Ahmed Daqamseh opened fire at the children, killing seven girls aged 13 and 14 and badly wounding six others.
Daqamseh was apprehended by Israeli authorities and served a 20-year prison sentence, eventually being released in 2017.
Yisrael Fatihi, whose daughter Sivan died in the terror attack, said that although he will no longer be able to visit the memorial at the site, he will visit teh area to look at it from afar.
"The area (Naharayim) is not holy to me, the memorial site on its grounds is," he said. "Every Tu B'Shvat, families would go up there, plant trees and take hikes.
"It saddens me I won't be able to visit it again. I'll still come and look at it, from 300 meters away," he said.
Inbal Ravid from Gedara also made her way to the site to make her final farewell.
"We came to say goodbye and it's so weird, so superfluous," she says. "Both sides are to blame, the Israeli government should have prepared ahead and not dealt with a third election."
Ffiteen-year-old Naor Chelouche from Acre, on his first visit to the island, emphasized the importance of young Israelis visiting the location.
"Personally, I don't think we should give the enclave back. Many Israeli farmers make their living working here and it's a shame for them to be harmed," said Chelouche.
Avner Ron, a resident from nearby Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov Ihud and a tour guide at the site for many years, looked glumly at the last visitors and across the Jordan Valley.
"I don't know what I am going to do now. I don’t know if I've lost my job. Thankfully I live on a kibbutz or else I would be unemployed," he said.
After the many visitors to the island left, the Jordanian government on Saturday the residents of Ashdot Ya'akov Ihud to say farewell to the area. Their visit was the last entry by Israelis to the site.
Israel controlled agricultural lands for over 70 years and was permitted to lease areas under 25-year-old peace accord, assuming arrangement would be extended once again; but monarch's announcement to parliament seems to dash Israeli hopes
Jordan's King Abdullah announced Sunday that two pieces of land leased by Israel would be returned to the "full sovereignty" of Jordan as the two countries marked a chilly 25th anniversary of their landmark peace agreement.
Israel has controlled the agricultural lands for over 70 years and had been permitted to lease the areas under the 1994 peace agreement, with the assumption that the arrangement would be extended once again. Even amid mistrust and a looming deadline, Israel was hoping a solution could be found. But King Abdullah II's announcement to parliament seemed to put an end to that and Jordan is set to reclaim full control of the areas this week.
"I announce the end of the annexation of the two areas, Ghumar and Al-Baqoura, in the peace treaty and impose our full sovereignty on every inch of them," said Abdullah. video
It marked a new blow to relations that began with great optimism but have steadily deteriorated.
Following up on a historic interim peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians a year earlier, then-prime minister, Yitzhak
Rabin and the late King Hussein of Jordan signed a peace agreement on Oct. 26, 1994 with President Bill Clinton in attendance and all three leaders delivered moving speeches promising warm relations and a better future.
It was only the second peace deal between Israel and an Arab country, following Egypt.
The accord remains a vital strategic asset for both countries, who maintain tight security cooperation and joint economic projects, but with little progress toward a Palestinian state, the close contact hasn't trickled down to the average citizen - especially in Jordan, where most people have Palestinian roots.
Israeli policies in east Jerusalem, where Jordan has custodial rights over Muslim holy sites, have also raised tensions.
Last year, Jordan chose not to renew a clause of the peace treaty that granted Israel use of two enclaves inside Jordanian territory, called Tzofar and Naharayim in Hebrew.
Naharayim, located along the Jordan River in northern Israel, has become a popular tourist site. It includes a small park and picnic area, the ruins of a historic power station and the "Island of Peace," where Israelis can briefly enter Jordanian territory without having to show their passports.
The site has a painful history. In 1997, a Jordanian soldier opened fire at an Israeli crowd, killing seven schoolgirls on a class trip. After the shooting, King Hussein traveled to Israel to ask forgiveness from the girls' families.
Twenty years after his death, Hussein remains a beloved figure in Israel for what was seen as a courageous act.
Jordan's King Abdullah announced Sunday that two pieces of land leased by Israel would be returned to the "full sovereignty" of Jordan as the two countries marked a chilly 25th anniversary of their landmark peace agreement.
Israel has controlled the agricultural lands for over 70 years and had been permitted to lease the areas under the 1994 peace agreement, with the assumption that the arrangement would be extended once again. Even amid mistrust and a looming deadline, Israel was hoping a solution could be found. But King Abdullah II's announcement to parliament seemed to put an end to that and Jordan is set to reclaim full control of the areas this week.
"I announce the end of the annexation of the two areas, Ghumar and Al-Baqoura, in the peace treaty and impose our full sovereignty on every inch of them," said Abdullah. video
It marked a new blow to relations that began with great optimism but have steadily deteriorated.
Following up on a historic interim peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians a year earlier, then-prime minister, Yitzhak
Rabin and the late King Hussein of Jordan signed a peace agreement on Oct. 26, 1994 with President Bill Clinton in attendance and all three leaders delivered moving speeches promising warm relations and a better future.
It was only the second peace deal between Israel and an Arab country, following Egypt.
The accord remains a vital strategic asset for both countries, who maintain tight security cooperation and joint economic projects, but with little progress toward a Palestinian state, the close contact hasn't trickled down to the average citizen - especially in Jordan, where most people have Palestinian roots.
Israeli policies in east Jerusalem, where Jordan has custodial rights over Muslim holy sites, have also raised tensions.
Last year, Jordan chose not to renew a clause of the peace treaty that granted Israel use of two enclaves inside Jordanian territory, called Tzofar and Naharayim in Hebrew.
Naharayim, located along the Jordan River in northern Israel, has become a popular tourist site. It includes a small park and picnic area, the ruins of a historic power station and the "Island of Peace," where Israelis can briefly enter Jordanian territory without having to show their passports.
The site has a painful history. In 1997, a Jordanian soldier opened fire at an Israeli crowd, killing seven schoolgirls on a class trip. After the shooting, King Hussein traveled to Israel to ask forgiveness from the girls' families.
Twenty years after his death, Hussein remains a beloved figure in Israel for what was seen as a courageous act.
9 nov 2019
Jordan has announced that it will not allow Israeli citizens and settlers to enter its lands of Baqoura and Ghamr as of Sunday after its agreement with Israel on leasing those areas expired.
In its peace treaty with Israel, Jordan agreed to lease the lands to Israel for a 25-year renewable period, with the Hashemite kingdom retaining sovereignty, but this lease ends on Sunday, November 10, and Jordan already decided not to renew it.
Opinion polls have repeatedly found that the peace treaty with Israel is overwhelmingly opposed by Jordanians, more than half of them are of Palestinian origin.
This development has taken place following a series of events. In 2017, an Israeli embassy security guard in Amman killed two Jordanians and later Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu received and honored the guard.
Three years earlier, an Israeli soldier at a border crossing killed a Jordanian judge, with no reason.
Just last month, Amman recalled its ambassador from Israel over the prolonged detention without trial of two Jordanians.
They were freed and returned to Jordan on Wednesday and Netanyahu's office said the Jordanian ambassador would return shortly.
Earlier, Netanyahu's national security advisor, Meir Ben-Shabbat, had met last Monday in Amman with Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi who told him there would be no extension to the Baqoura and Ghamr leases.
Safadi said during his meeting with the Israeli official that compensation would be paid to the Israeli farmers for crops remaining in the areas following the handover.
In its peace treaty with Israel, Jordan agreed to lease the lands to Israel for a 25-year renewable period, with the Hashemite kingdom retaining sovereignty, but this lease ends on Sunday, November 10, and Jordan already decided not to renew it.
Opinion polls have repeatedly found that the peace treaty with Israel is overwhelmingly opposed by Jordanians, more than half of them are of Palestinian origin.
This development has taken place following a series of events. In 2017, an Israeli embassy security guard in Amman killed two Jordanians and later Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu received and honored the guard.
Three years earlier, an Israeli soldier at a border crossing killed a Jordanian judge, with no reason.
Just last month, Amman recalled its ambassador from Israel over the prolonged detention without trial of two Jordanians.
They were freed and returned to Jordan on Wednesday and Netanyahu's office said the Jordanian ambassador would return shortly.
Earlier, Netanyahu's national security advisor, Meir Ben-Shabbat, had met last Monday in Amman with Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi who told him there would be no extension to the Baqoura and Ghamr leases.
Safadi said during his meeting with the Israeli official that compensation would be paid to the Israeli farmers for crops remaining in the areas following the handover.