Israel, Jordan build links despite rift
ISRAELIS ACKNOWLEDGE DIFFERENCES BUT SAY PROJECTS WILL CONTINUE
Agas pipeline, a joint industrial park, and a canal linking two seas: Israel and Jordan aren’t letting tensions over the Al Aqsa mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem derail economic cooperation worth billions of dollars.
Jordan has a historical role as guardian of the hilltop sacred to Muslims as the Al Aqsa mosque compound and to Jews as the Temple Mount, and King Abdullah has warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s handling of Palestinian demonstrations there could damage ties with his nation.
Yet amid the strains, turmoil on Jordan’s borders and ongoing security and economic interests have prevailed over political frictions.
Jordanian day-workers
Israeli Deputy Minister for Regional Cooperation Ayoub Kara met with Jordanian officials to discuss a proposed industrial park straddling the border. The first of a planned 1,500 Jordanian day-workers crossed into the Israeli resort town of Eilat to work in hotels as regional violence batters Jordan’s own tourism industry.
One factor now pushing Jordan into deepening economic links with Israel is the violence in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, which used to provide key trade routes, according to Amman-based economist Hosam Ayesh.
“It is in Jordan’s interest to preserve economic cooperation with Israel in light of the regional turmoil and closure of borders with Iraq and Syria, as Jordanian traders are using Israeli ports to import and export commodities,” Ayesh said.
Jordanian exports to Israel surged to $378.1 million (Dh1.38 billion) in 2014 from $105.9 million in 2008, while Israeli exports to Jordan fell to $107.8 million from $288.5 million, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
Israeli exports fell because the US lowered trade tariffs on Jordanian exports, lessening Jordan’s need to produce goods with Israeli components at free-trade zones it set up after the countries made peace in 1994.