Tel Aviv "disappointed" about relations with Jordan

Israeli political sources have expressed “disappointment” about the state’s relations with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, describing the peace between the two countries as “not as warm as it could be”.

According to Israeli radio, the sources added that this cooling of relations means that opportunities are being missed to develop common ground between Israel and Jordan. Israeli Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein said, “The peace agreement with Jordan is not as warm as we would have liked.”

The sources believe that Israel is doing all it can to develop the relationship with its neighbour, citing the fact that it supplies Jordan with fifty million cubic metres of water annually, in accordance with the terms of the peace treaty, despite the water shortage that Israel is experiencing. In addition, the sources claimed, Israel grants visas to Jordanians wishing to visit the country.

Israeli media reports on Sunday 3 January said that the last 3 months of 2009 saw a drastic decline in Israeli exports of fruits and vegetables to Jordan, due to the Jordanian Ministry of Agriculture’s regulations that require merchants to label produce that it comes from Israel. It is suggested that Jordanians are making a conscious decision to boycott Israeli goods, leading to the decline in demand.