BICOM

A delegation of a dozen Jordanian generals recently conducted a low-key visit to Israel to participate in an international conference alongside Israeli military counterparts.

YNet reports that during the three-day visit, the Jordanian delegation toured the country and met leading Israeli officials. They also attended a conference at Netanya Academic College on regional military forces and the need to preserve the environment.

The conference was also reportedly attended by Jordan’s Ambassador to Israel, a former-Swiss Chief of Staff and former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy, who emphasised the regional importance of peace between Israel and Jordan.

Netanya Academic College President, Professor Zvi Arad told YNet: “I’m glad Netanya Academic College serves as a greenhouse for growing ties between Israel, Switzerland, Jordan, Germany and others in order to expedite peace and normalisation between neighbouring countries.”

Meanwhile, the Financial Times this morning includes an interview with Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Industry Minister Jawad Anani. Anani says that a deal for Jordan to purchase billions of pounds of natural gas from Israel’s offshore Leviathan field is “almost done in terms of agreements and conditions, but we still have problems”.

He explained that in order to “mitigate the backlash” he expects from the Jordanian public over the gas deal, Jordan’s government is requesting that Israel grant trade concessions towards selling goods to the Palestinian market in the West Bank.

Anani said: “After 22 years of peace with Israel, we have not been able to expand our trade with the West Bank… I want a $1bn share of the West Bank market which the Israelis now monopolise.”

Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994 and have since enjoyed a warm relationship. It is thought that the two countries cooperate closely on security matters. However, the Jordanian population, at least half of whom are Palestinian, have rarely openly welcomed increased ties with Israel.