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Israeli ambassador: We couldn't dream of a better neighbour than Jordan

October 23, 2014 at 12:26 pm

The Israeli ambassador to Jordan, Daniel Nevo, has said that “Israel couldn’t dream of a better neighbour than Jordan,” noting that the strategic relationship between the two countries is continuously developing, Arabi21 news website reported on Thursday.

In an interview with Israel’s Army Radio on Thursday morning to mark two decades since the signing of the Wadi Araba agreement, Nevo reportedly downplayed the verbal criticisms made by political leaders in Jordan, especially King Abdullah, over the Zionist policies adopted in Jerusalem.

According to Arabi21, Nevo noted that such criticisms are only made in the context of the Jordanian regime’s attempt to contain public anger over what is occurring in Jerusalem and what happened in the Gaza Strip during the latest Israeli attack on Palestinians in Gaza, as well as an attempt to overcome the pressures put on Amman from other Arab and Islamic parties.

Nevo was also quoted as saying that all of the statements issued by Jordanian officials criticising Israel’s policies have not prevented the continuous development of their bilateral relations, whether the exchange of intelligence, security coordination, trading, or economic cooperation between the two countries.

The Israeli ambassador also drew attention to the fact that Jordan reached an agreement with Israel a month ago that stipulates providing Jordan with gas from the fields that have been recently discovered along the Palestinian coast. He also pointed out that Jordan agreed to establish a water desalination plant in the city of Aqaba in order to provide Eilat marina with drinkable water.

In addition to this, Nevo praised Jordan and described it as “a stable island in choppy seas”, noting that Israel is very interested in continuing its cooperation with Jordan.

However, Nevo also admitted that the Jordanian public was not participating in the celebration to commemorate the Wadi Araba agreement, saying, “How could we expect them to after Jordanians witnessed what occurred in Gaza during the war?”

He stressed that the political movements, especially the Islamic movements and the unions in Jordan, play an important role in influencing Jordanian public opinion against Israel.

Nevo also recognised that due to the influence of public opinion, many Zionist businessmen working in Jordan are forced to hide their identities so that their businesses are not negatively affected.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Minister of the Economy, and the leader of the right-wing Jewish Home Party, Naftali Bennett, urged Israelis not to pay any attention to the Jordanian and Arab reactions, urging them instead to support changing the status quo of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, to impose Jewish sovereignty over it.

In an interview conducted on Israel Radio on Thursday morning, Arabi21 said Bennett claimed that Jerusalem is “only Israel’s eternal capital and that Al-Aqsa Mosque is built on the holiest Jewish site, and therefore this must be asserted by changing the status quo in the area.”