Jordan Times
Tuesday, September 14, 1999
Jordanian-Israeli transport committee convenes today in Aqaba
AMMAN (J.T.) — The Jordanian-Israeli joint transport committee is expected to convene in Aqaba today to discuss the future of the delayed Aqaba Peace Airport, maritime transport and trade between Jordan and the Palestinian National Authority.
Minister of Transport Nasser Lawzi, who will meet for the first time his Israeli counterpart Yitzhak Mordechai, said he would not “forecast” any possible outcome of the meeting, although Jordan has several grievances about the slow pace of both the development of the airport and its ability to efficiently trade with the Palestinian West Bank territories due to transport and security restrictions.
However, last week, a senior official said Jordan “senses an Israeli commitment and political will to reactivate the [17 bilateral] agreements signed in line with the 1944 peace treaty.”
Jordan, since having signed trade accords with both Israel and the PNA in 1996, has complained that the Jewish state has blocked the Kingdom's trade opportunities with strict security measures, including a complex goods transport system.
Jordanian traders claim that the system serves to protect Israel's iron grip on the Palestinian market, to which Israel exports $2.5-3 billion annually.
Jordan's exports to the territories in 1998 totalled JD16 million, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdul Ilah Khatib last week said Jordan had “received Israeli assurances concerning the flow of goods into the Palestinian territories.”
Meanwhile, the Aqaba Peace Airport — conceived in the peace treaty to be a model of Jordanian-Israeli economic cooperation — has hit several snags, the most recent being objections from the environmental movement in Israel that the construction of a road leading to a terminal on the Israeli side of the airport would compromise the existence of a rare tree that thrives in land protected as a game reserve.
Israeli officials have said that in spite of green concerns, the project will go ahead.
The meeting between the two ministers will be the third bilateral meeting at the ministerial level in a week. Late last week, Minister of Agriculture Hashem Shboul travelled to Israel, while Minister of Tourism Akel Biltaji and his Israeli counterpart Amnon Shahak met at the Dead Sea, where the two agreed on the guielines for a joint effort to promote and market the two countries ahead of the advent of the third Millennium.
His Majesty King Abdullah has said that improving the economic situation of Jordanians and Palestinians is crucial to underpin political success in the peace process.