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| Rekindling 15 Years Of Israel-Jordan Peace |
| Fresh thought is needed to strengthen normal bilateral ties |
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Yehonathan Tommer (tommery06)  |
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Published 2009-10-29 11:43 (KST) |
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The future of the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, acclaimed by both sides as a model of normalization between the Jewish State and its Arab neighbors, was the subject of nostalgic reminiscing and worried concern at a symposium held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem this week to mark its 15th anniversary.
The auditorium at the Harry Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace was full to overflowing as the Ambassadors of Israel, Jordan and the United States gathered with foreign diplomats and academics to take stock of the treaty's achievements and missed opportunities.
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FROM THE SECTION |
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| But the overwhelming impression conveyed by key Israeli and Jordanian panelists -- several of whom were "has-beens" who negotiated the treaty -- was a gloom over their countries' fragile and stunted bilateral ties.
Past hopes of building strong and integrated ties have not been realized and the task of repair is overshadowed by regional events.
"What we have is a small piece of peace, at best a cold peace," said Professor Munther Haddadin, a former Minister of Water and Irrigation and member of the Jordanian Delegation to the Peace Negotiations in 1992-94.
The Jordanians are especially incensed by what they see as exaggerated Israeli security checks on Jordanian citizens applying for entry visas to participate as panelists in business promotion forums and academic symposia in Israel. Clearance takes weeks and even months and approvals often arrive after the scheduled forums have ended.
Setback to bilateral ties
Expanding bilateral economic and cultural ties have been fatally set back in the past decade, Haddadin said, by three wars (the Second Intifada of 2000, the Second Lebanon War July 2006 and the invasion of Gaza January 2009), the construction of the security barrier, continuing Jewish West Bank settlement activities, tensions over demands for Jewish religious services on the Temple Mount (Haram esh Sharif) and Jewish housing construction in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.
"Instead of accommodation with the Arab world Israeli actions evoke condemnation by the international community," Haddadin said.
The Israel-Jordanian peace treaty signed on October 26 1994 was the culmination of a broader regional peace making process, Jordan's Ambassador in Israel Ali al-Ayed said. This was initiated by the Madrid Conference in 1991, followed by Israel's recognition of the PLO, the Oslo Accord of 1993 and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Normalization cannot blossom in a political vacuum, Ambassador Al-Ayed said. It is directly affected by the general regional situation and the barometer of the Palestinian conflict.
"Bilateral relations cannot expand, no matter how diligently our two governments make the efforts," he added.
Except for its brief revival in the wake of the Annapolis conference in November 2008, negotiations for a Palestinian settlement effectively froze with the collapse of the Camp David Summit and outbreak of the Second Intifada in September 2000 and later with the emergence of Hamas as a rejectionist, militant Palestinian group challenging Fateh and opposed to a political settlement with Israel.
Two state solution interconnected with normalization
The Jordanian-Israeli bilateral relationship can move forward, Al Ayed said, once negotiations are revived for a two state solution in which an independent Palestinian state living alongside Israel is established within the pre-1967 borders. The Arab League peace plan, he said, offered an agreed Arab framework.
Close to a year has elapsed since the Palestinian and Israeli teams met over the negotiating table. The longer it takes to relaunch them, the Jordanians fear, building tensions over the Temple Mount fanned by Muslim and Jewish extremists, can explode into a fresh outbreak of violence engulfing the entire region.
Israeli officials concede that economic and commercial ties especially have yielded "a mixed bag of achievements, failures and unrealized dreams," but the balance sheet is not wholly negative, according to Israel's Ambassador in Amman Jacob Rosen. He admits that Israel has consistently failed to harness Jordan's skilled high-tech manpower for joint R&D projects.
Cross-border economic transactions do take place, however. Jordanian universities train hundreds of Israeli Arabs in a variety of medical and technical professions and Israeli citizens regularly fly Jordanian Airlines offering cheaper flights to Asian destinations. But Rosen accused neighboring Arab states of vetoing regional development projects, like the joint Akaba - Eilat international airport, by their opposition to Israeli aircraft flying over their airspace.
This is small comfort to Jordan and Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Yossi Gal pledged that bureaucratic obstacles had to be surmounted to encourage the expansion of meaningful bilateral ties.
Israel should reciprocate Jordanian efforts
Both countries view their peace treaty as a strategic security asset. Retired General Mansour Abu Rashid, a former Chief of Jordanian Intelligence and Chairman of the Amman Center for Peace and Development confirmed that their military establishments closely cooperate and coordinate on all matters of border control, surveillance and supervision to prevent refugees and militants from infiltrating across the border into Israel.
The Jordanians stand firm by their commitment to the treaty, resisting parliamentary and public opposition to normalization from Palestinian Islamist groups in Jordan demanding the treaty's annulment. They rightly feel Israel does not reciprocate its efforts and that right wing Israeli governments in particular take the peace treaty with the Hashemite Kingdom for granted.
The Israeli Shin Bet (security service) is suspicious of granting Jordanians entry visas, fearing Palestinians will exploit this opportunity to realize their 'historic right of return' and the government is loath to allow Jordan with a politicized Palestinian majority to play a meaningful role in facilitating a two-state settlement with the Palestinians.
"We need a just and comprehensive peace to strengthen the Israel-Jordan peace," Rashid said. He complained that the peace camp in Israel has disappeared and in Jordan it is struggling to survive. "Peace has to be cultivated as a mutual Israeli and Jordanian interest."
The two countries have differing conceptions of normalization which must be practically discussed and accommodated at the highest levels of leadership, Israel's Ambassador in Jordan noted. An atmosphere of mutual respect, trust and confidence must also be cultivated between leaders and high ranking government officials who have the authority to make fast decisions in critical situations, noted Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein speaking from experience as a former leader of the Israeli peace negotiating team with Jordan.
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©2009 OhmyNews
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