Jordan ends lease for Israeli farmers
AMMAN 10 Nov (ANA) - The King of Jordan has announced the end of a lease agreement that gave Israelis access to two border enclaves.
Under a 1994 peace treaty, Israeli farmers could cultivate land in the Jordanian areas of Naharayim and Tzofar - known as Baqura and Ghamr in Arabic.
The lease governing them was for 25 years, but could have been extended.
However King Abdullah announced last year that he planned to end the lease - in what was seen as a sign of worsening ties between Jordan and Israel.
At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that he still hoped to negotiate an extension to the arrangement.
On Sunday, as the lease expired, gates on the border were closed, and AFP reported that Israelis were prevented from entering.
One farmer, Eli Arazi, told Reuters his community had been growing crops there for 70 years, and described the end of the lease as "a punch in the face".
The two enclaves are on the Israeli-Jordanian border, and have been privately owned by Israeli groups for several decades.
Israel and Jordan were officially at war from 1948 to 1994, until the peace treaty was signed.
The treaty was significant, as Jordan is only one of two Arab countries that has signed a peace deal with Israel.
The agreement recognised that Jordan had sovereignty over the two areas - but Israel was permitted to lease the areas for 25 years.(ANA)
FA/ANA/10 November 2019-----