On Saturday, Israel marked the 25th anniversary of the 1994 peace treaty with Jordan. Jordan – less so. Israel yearns, hopes and strives for peace, despite the cynics who scoff at the idea.
The foundations of peace with Jordan date back at least 52 years. In the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War, King Hussein of Jordan understood he was deceived into entering the conflict by then-Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and the move resulted in Amman losing its control over east Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. The savvy King Hussein realized that Israel is here to stay and decided to come to grips with this reality.
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More important were the developments that took place in 1970 during Black September – a conflict fought in Jordan between Hussein's army and the Palestine Liberation Organization, under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, from Sept. 16-27.
The monarch came to understand that Palestinian terrorism was an enemy his country and Israel had in common. He further realized that the IDF, which was keeping Syria at bay with respect to a potential invasion of Jordan, has become something of a protector of the Hashemite kingdom.
Since the events in 1970 Hussein, and later his son, King Abdullah, have ensured the Jordan-Israel frontier – the Jewish state's longest border – enjoyed near-complete peace. Jordan was so adamant to do so, that in 1973, Hussein provided Israeli officials with a strategic warning about other Arab countries intent to attack it but alas, it fell on deaf ears.
Twenty-one years later, King Hussein and then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin inked a historic peace treaty and there is no doubt that both had meant for it to be a real, warm peace; one that transcends the dry definition of nonhostile relations.
These hopes were only partially realized. Jerusalem and Amman instated full diplomatic ties and named respective ambassadors, but tensions have persisted. The Jordanian people, in general, are hostile toward Israel. The Jordanian government often lambastes Israel publicly, and while King Abdullah maintains clandestine ties with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in public, he often clashes with him.
Israel is not at fault here, especially when it comes to the optics – case in point, Netanyahu's photo with the Israeli security guard who inadvertently killed a Jordanian citizen at the embassy in Amman in 2017. The incident strained Israel's relations with Jordan and that photo added insult to injury.
Worse, the constant criticism by former senior Israeli officials fuels the negative sentiment in Jordan. When former officials see the glass as only half empty – and never half full – even Jordanians who want peaceful relations to prosper are afraid to speak up. "We cannot be more positive than [former Mossad intelligence agency Director] Ephraim Halevi or [former Israeli Ambassador to Egypt] Shimon Shamir," a Jordanian official told me.
But that's exactly the point – there is a bright side and it may even be brighter than most believe because, despite statements suggesting otherwise, it is the mutual interests that set the tone.
Israel offers Jordan the strategic backing it needs to deal with the threats it faces; it supports the preservation of Jordan as the Hashemite Kingdom, and it opposes the "Jordan is Palestine" concept. Israel further lends Jordan a powerful status on the Temple Mount, sells it natural gas at floor rates and provides it with significant water supply, as well as enables European goods heading to Jordan to pass through the Haifa port and land crossings.
In return, Jordan offers much more than money: Amman is a de facto partner in keeping the tensions with the Palestinians in general and particularly with respect to the Temple Mount from boiling over, and above all, Jordan affords Israel strategy depth, which is a vital security interest.
The current situation is far from ideal. Warmer diplomatic relations may have been able to facilitate a solution for the issue of Naharayim and Tzofar, or advance the stalled Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal project, but given the regional circumstances, any collaboration, let alone one concerning pivotal issues, is proof that peace is alive and kicking.
Naharayim and Tzofar are two parcels of agricultural land on the Jordanian side of the border that, under a special clause in the 1994 peace deal, Israel was allowed to retain control over for 25 years, with the understanding that the lease will be renewed as a matter of routine. However, in October 2018, Jordan announced it plans to terminate the lease.
The Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal project is a planned pipeline that runs from the coastal city of Aqaba by the Red Sea to the Lisan area in the Dead Sea, with the aim of providing potable water to Jordan and stabilize the fast-shrinking Dead Sea water level, as well as generate electricity to support the energy needs of the project.
But why is the climate acerbic? Because every public step King Abdullah takes to signal warming ties with Israel will meet with scathing domestic criticism, to the point of rattling the throne. At a time when the Jordanian economy is faltering, Syrian refugees are flocking to its borders by the millions, Iran in breathing down the kingdom's neck, terrorist organizations are flourish and the majority in Jordan is Palestinian – not Hashemite, Abdullah must choose his battles.
For these reasons, he does not believe he has to go through the motions of appearing as if he is trying to foster closer ties with Israel.
Jerusalem would like nothing more than to improve its relations with Amman, but it understands its neighbor, so the discrepancy between what is said in public and behind closed doors is acceptable on both sides.
We must not lose hope. Maybe, by the time we mark the treaty's 50th anniversary, things will get better.
