Ammon News -

Sources accuse PM of endangering peace deal with Amman, after recent spat over planned Temple Mount visit, overflight permission, timesofisrael reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed approving Jordan’s request for water from Israel, according to a Friday report, amid recent tensions between Jerusalem and Amman, timesofisrael indicated.

Citing Israeli and Jordanian security sources, the Haaretz daily said Jordan made the request this month to alleviate water shortages. The request was submitted through the joint Israeli-Jordanian water committee, established after the 1994 peace deal between the countries, according to timesofisrael.

Despite officials backing the water transfer, Netanyahu and the National Security Council have delayed responding to the request, which the report said indicated he intends to refuse it.

Unnamed Israeli sources said to have close contacts with the Jordanians expressed concern over the strained ties between Jerusalem and Amman, accusing Netanyahu of endangering the peace agreement due to the animosity between him and the Jordanian royal family.

The newspaper also said Jordan wants Israel’s help in securing coronavirus vaccines, but that Netanyahu left it off a list of countries included in a now halted initiative to supply doses to friendly nations.

The report came weeks after Netanyahu trip was scrapped, however, with Netanyahu’s office citing difficulties coordinating the flight over Jordanian airspace, after Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein canceled a visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a sensitive holy site under Jordanian custodianship, due to disagreements with Israel over security arrangements.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi later confirmed that Jordan held up granting Netanyahu overflight permission in retaliation for the prince’s canceled visit to Jerusalem. Safadi accused Israel of violating an agreement on the arrangements for the visit, while Israel has said Hussein arrived with heavier security than promised.

The diplomatic spat underscored Jordanian frustrations with Netanyahu and tensions between the two neighbors that have simmered for years.

According to a report earlier this month, Netanyahu ordered the closing of Israeli airspace to flights heading to and from Jordan in retaliation for Amman’s delaying of the plane.

Netanyahu made the decision unilaterally without consulting the cabinet or aviation officials, who panicked upon receiving the order, recognizing its major international implications, Maariv reported.

However, the premier evidently had a change of heart minutes before the order went into effect and decided to retract the directive, according to the report, citing several senior officials involved in the incident.

Barring Jordan-bound planes from using Israeli airspace would have been a violation of the peace deal Israel struck with Jordan in 1994. The directive would also have violated the aviation deals Israel has reached with countless other countries, including the United States, which use Israeli airspace for flights landing in Jordan or ones that use Israeli and Jordanian airspace to reach other destinations in the region.

 

*timesofisrael