Following diplomatic efforts on behalf of Israeli farmers, Jordan's King Abdullah II agreed on Wednesday to extend a land lease with Israel in the Tzofar enclave in the Arava region for a period of 5-7 months, or one agricultural cycle, Jordanian media reported.
It was still unclear whether Abdullah would similarly extend the land lease in Naharayim, in the Jordan Valley.
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The Hashemite Kingdom had previously refused to extend a lease on the lands outlined in the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty.
Israel will still have to return the two parcels of agricultural land and the transition will affect dozens of Israeli farmers who have been working the 247 acres of land for the past 25 years.
The two parcels of land, Naharayim in the Jordan Valley and Tzofar in the Arava, include the Island of Peace Park at the junction between the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers. They were returned to Jordan as part of the 1994 peace treaty, but leased by Israel under a special clause with the provision that it could use the land for 25 years and be able to renew the lease as a matter of procedure.
However, in October 2018, Abdullah announced he would terminate the lease. Israel attempted to solve the matter through diplomatic channels, but without success.
As part of the 1994 treaty, Israel supplies Jordan with 45 million cubic meters of water every year, a number that has increased to 55 million cubic meters over the last few years. In 2018, Amman asked Israel to expand the annual quota to a whopping 100 million cubic meters.
In 1997, a Jordanian soldier opened fire on an Israeli school trip to the Island of Peace, killing seven teenage schoolgirls and seriously wounding six others.
The late King Hussein, Abdullah's father, visited the girls' families to express his condolences personally.
Diplomatic discussions with regard to the land transfers are still ongoing. The Tzofar extension will give negotiators more time to discuss potential economic models.
Parts of this article were reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
