Jordan Times
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Jordan, Israel to set up joint educational centre along border
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and Jordan are breaking ground next month on a joint science and technology centre, the first major educational venture since the two countries signed a peace deal in 1994, officials said on Wednesday.The project is backed by two major US universities, Cornell and Stanford, as well as Jordanian and Israeli business people and former Israeli military officials.
The “Bridging the Rift Centre” will be built over the next five years on desert land straddling the Israeli-Jordanian border. Jordan and Israel have each allocated 75 acres of land on both sides of the border, which means that the centre will be built on 150 acres of land. A section of the border fence has already been removed ahead of the start of construction.
Groundbreaking is set for March 9.
His Majesty King Abdullah will host a reception for business people and academics at Basman Palace after the event, while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will begin the Day of Hope celebration with a reception at his home, a Royal Court statement said.
This international learning centre, similar to Silicon Valley, will be built on this “extra-territorial land” in partnership with the University of Cornell and the University of Stanford, two of the 4 leading universities in the United States.
The centre will offer doctoral programmes and conduct research, and will be a “hub for technology, research and education for all people in Middle Eastern countries,” said a statement by the private Bridging the Rift Foundation which oversees the project. Initially, it will be open to students from Jordan and Israel, and possibly Palestinians.
Assaf Shariv, Sharon's spokesman, said the prime minister's office has been involved in getting the programme off the ground. “We see it as a very important thing ...we see this as a very positive step,” Shariv said.
Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty a decade ago. Although there has been little violence, relations have been strained as a result of more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Jordan has taken a particularly strong position against a separation barrier Israel is building in the West Bank.
Jordan fears the barrier — which Israel says it needs to prevent suicide bombers from entering its towns and cities — will lead to mass Palestinian emigration.
The centre, described as a science and technology village, will allow students to receive doctorate degrees from Stanford and Cornell, said Eitan Ben-Eliyahu, a board member of the foundation and Israel's former air force chief. Some of the research will focus on the campus' environment, the desert, he said.
“The whole idea is to have distance from political issues and to focus on academic issues,” Ben-Eliyahu said.