World Jewish News

King Abdullah (photo by Jordan Times)

Virtually no contact between Netanyahu, Jordan's Abdullah

A year after Operation Cast Lead and the beginning of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's second term, Israel-Jordan relations are in a deep slump. In talks with Haaretz senior officials in Jerusalem and Amman characterized the situation as a genuine crisis, adding that there is virtually no contact between Netanyahu and King Abdullah.

The crisis with Jordan is much less public than the one with Turkey, but it is far more acute and stands in deep contrast both with the warm relationship of Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, with the king, as well as Netanyahu's close connection to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The Prime Minister's Office said in a statement: "The serious intentions of the Israeli government to conduct a peace process with the Palestinians have been proved in recent months with a series of measures, some of which were even characterized by the U.S. secretary of state as 'unprecedented.' Today every objective figure in the international community recognizes that it is the Palestinian Authority that is refusing to make peace, and is responsible for delaying the start of negotiations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu views the cultivation of peaceful and neighborly relations as very important. The relations between the states are continuous, on the diplomatic level. The prime minister would be happy to meet with Jordan's king at any opportunity in which the need arises."

Since becoming prime minister last year Netanyahu has met King Abdullah only once, in May, a few days before the premier's visit to Washington. The king urged Netanyahu to declare his acceptance of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and delivered stern criticism about construction in the settlements and Israeli activities in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu and Barak, in contrast, have met with Mubarak three times in addition to two visits to Jerusalem by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.

National Security Adviser Uzi Arad visited Jordan just twice last year. Amman's attitude toward him is suspicious and hesitant, in part as a result of leftover tension from Netanyahu's first term as premier. During Arad's last visit to Jordan, prior to the United Nations General Assembly in September, his request to schedule a meeting between Abdullah and Netanyahu was rebuffed on the grounds of scheduling issues. In the end they met for five minutes in a UN corridor on the margins of the assembly.

Knowledgeable Israeli officials say that communication between the two leaders is conducted via President Shimon Peres, who speaks with the king every few weeks. In addition, Mossad director Meir Dagan is thought to be in contact with Jordanian leaders.

Israeli and Jordanian sources point to Abdullah's lack of trust in Netanyahu, which the king expressed in a May 2009 interview to The Times of London, just a few days before meeting with the prime minister. "I had three months with the overlap [after the death of King Hussein in 1999, during Netanyahu's first term]. These were probably the least pleasant of my 10 years."

Amman is also boycotting Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and Foreign Ministry Director General Yossi Gal has not had a single meeting with his counterparts in the Jordanian capital. Most of the communications between the Israeli and Jordanian foreign ministries are conducted through Israel's ambassador to Jordan, Daniel Nevo, who commands great respect in Amman, and Jordan's veteran ambassador in Israel, Ali Al Ayed.

A senior cabinet minister who is knowledgeable about Israel-Jordan relations confirmed the crisis, as did Jordanian officials who spoke to Haaretz.

Officials on both sides of the Jordan River agree that Operation Cast Lead, the result of last year's Israeli elections and the freeze in the peace process are behind the crisis. King Abdullah and the Jordanian leadership do not believe Netanyahu's declarations of support for the peace process and fear that the premier is trying to deceive him.

"We have not heard Netanyahu clearly state his goal that he is commited to the peace process and is serious about the creation of a Palestinian state," a senior Jordanian official said. "Netanyahu knows exactly what our position is, the king told him everything clearly and directly, but unfortunately we see no response and no progress on the peace talks."

Jordan's suspicious attitude is particularly notable when it comes to East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. In the past year there have been at least five incidents regarding Jerusalem that provoked diplomatic protests from Jordan, or for which the Israeli ambassador to Amman was formally reprimanded. The Jordanians claim that they are implementing their link to Jerusalem's holy sites as set out in the peace agreement with Israel. Despite the fact that the agreement mentions only Islamic sites, the Jordanians have also submitted protests over Israeli actions that they say impinge on sites that are holy to Christianity.

The Jordanians closely monitor all Israeli activities in Jerusalem. The riots on the Temple Mount on Erev Yom Kippur last year raised Jordan-Israel tensions to a new peak. The Jordanians also complain regularly about alleged excavations by Israeli organizations beneath the Temple Mount, but they refuse to join Foreign Ministry visits to the site to ascertain whether the alleged digging is actually taking place.

Israeli sources say that some of the Jordanian claims border on the absurd, such as a complaint about a model of the Temple in a yeshiva near the Temple Mount, repairs to the fence of a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City and the placement of a Second Temple-era stone from the Temple Mount on the plaza of the Knesset building.

A Jordanian source cited Israeli actions in East Jerusalem in the past year as a major cause of the crisis. "People are being driven out of their homes, there is nonstop building in the east of the city and provocations on the Temple Mount."

By Barak Ravid

Haaretz.com