Netanyahu: There has Never Been ‘Real Reconciliation’ with Jordan

At an event marking the 25^th anniversary of the signing of Israel’s 1994 peace treaty with Jordan, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu suggested that no “real reconciliation” had taken place with the Hashemite Kingdom, and that the basis for limited bilateral cooperation would be the Jewish state’s military superiority. Netanyahu underscored the absence of progress made in building functional relations between Israelis and Jordanians, a scenario he said also applied to Egypt, with which Jerusalem forged a peace treaty in 1979. The prime minister nevertheless stressed that maintaining stability in both Jordan and Egypt remained a cardinal Israeli interest, and that the peace deals contributed not only to this, but also to the “non-takeover [of Amman and Cairo] by Islamist elements.” Notably, Netanyahu’s comments came amid heightened tensions with Jordan, which this week reclaimed total control over two border enclaves, both of them sovereign Jordanian territories that were leased to Israel for a quarter of a century. The assumption in 1994, at least by Israel, was that the lease would be renewed in perpetuity.