Israel on Sunday handed over to Jordan two parcels of agricultural land leased from it under the 1994 peace treaty between Jerusalem and Amman, after the latter had refused to negotiate extending their lease.
The areas in question comprise Naharayim, in the Jordan Valley, and Tzofar, in the Arava region in southern Israel.
The area also includes the Island of Peace, a park located at the confluence of the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers. In 1997, seven Israeli schoolgirls were murdered by a Jordanian soldier while on a trip to the park.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
A special clause in the 1994 peace treaty between the countries allowed Israel to retain control of the two enclaves for 25 years, with the understanding that the lease will be renewed automatically. But in late 2018, facing growing domestic criticism, King Abdullah II announced plans to terminate the lease.
The Israeli government immediately launched extensive efforts to guarantee continued access to the areas but to no avail.
As the lease officially ended on Sunday, hundreds of Israelis flocked to the area over the weekend, taking "farewell tours" of Tzofar, Naharayim, and the Island of Peace. At around 5 p.m. following the last guided tour, Israeli troops shuttered the gate to Naharayim, marking its effective return to Jordan.
Diplomatic and political sources expressed their disappointment that Jordan's remained unmoved on the issue, but said that given the myriad of domestic pressures King Abdullah is dealing with, it was clear that once he publically announced he would not allow Israel to maintain its lease on the area, the chances of changing the decision were slim.
Sources in both the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office attributed Amman's unbending position on the matter to the heavy pressure exerted by the Muslim Brotherhood and lawmakers opposing the normalization of Jordanian-Israeli ties.
Several sources added that if the matter was solely up to the monarch, he would have extended the lease for Tzofar and Naharayim, but the repeated calls in the Jordanian parliament to suspend and even repeal the 1994 peace treaty, compounded by the long-standing hostility to Israel among the Jordanian people, have led Abdullah to take a hard line on the issue.
"When it comes to the relations with Jordan, it's all about what's out there publicly. The issues that are handled behind the scenes, away from the Jordanian public eye are in excellent working order, be it security issues or economic relations. But anything that has a public expression in the media or is brought before the Jordanian Parliament meets with immediate opposition. That's just the reality of it," a diplomatic source told Israel Hayom.
"This farewell is entirely [the result of] improper and wrong conduct by the Israeli government over the last year," Jordan Valley Regional Council head Idan Greenbaum told Army Radio Friday. "We're sorry we're parting from this place we held with blood and sweat for so many years."
Greenbaum told Army Radio on Friday that Jordanian officials informed him that as of Sunday the Naharayim site will be out of bounds. Israeli authorities, he said, have told him nothing.
"As of this time, no Israeli official has chosen to update us," he said.
