Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with King Abdullah II in Amman has great political and geopolitical importance. Over the years, King Abdullah has been extreme towards Israel, and there are good reasons for this: a large Palestinian population in his country, close ties between Jordan and the Palestinians in the territories, and also the move’s status as the guardian of the mosques.
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Indeed, at the meeting, Netanyahu again promised that there would be no change in Israeli policy regarding mosques and the Temple Mount Square, and that the status quo would be strictly maintained. He repeated his statements that he was responsible for this and not any of the coalition partners in his government. At the meeting, permanent communication mechanisms were established between the two sides, including between Netanyahu’s office and the King’s office, between the Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and the head of the National Assembly Tzachi Hanegbi and the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safdi. All this in addition to the existing mechanism between the head of the Shin Bet Ronan Bar and the head of the Jordanian General Intelligence Ahmed Hosni.
Netanyahu adopts the previous government’s agreement
According to sources in Jordan and Israel privy to the details of the meetings, significant progress has been made on two main interrelated issues: First, Jordan shows a willingness not to condition progress on economic and political issues with Israel on the Palestinian issue, as the countries that signed the Abraham and Egypt agreements did. What exactly does this mean and will there be any practical consequences? Only the future will prove.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu / Photo: Haim Tzach-L.A.M
The second topic that came up in the conversation between the two leaders is the promotion of the Green and Blue Prosperity Agreement signed between Israel, the Emirates and Jordan during the previous government. Sources familiar with the meeting told Globes that it was agreed that the two governments would speed up the implementation of the agreement on both parts.
The first agreement was signed in November 2021 by the early government, and the main thing is the establishment of a huge solar energy field in Jordan, which is supposed to supply electricity to Israel. In return, Israel will build a large desalination plant in the Mediterranean Sea and flow water to Jordan. The UAE should finance the projects through its energy and water companies. Even today, Israel sells water to Jordan at cost prices within the framework of the agreements between the countries due to the severe water shortage in the kingdom. According to the new agreement, Israel will sell Jordan 300 million cubic meters of desalinated water per year at a price of around half a billion shekels, and will purchase 600 megawatts of solar electricity from it.
In a conversation with Globes, a senior official in the Emirates harshly criticized the Israeli bureaucracy that delayed the construction of the desalination plant. According to him, among the proposals that came up was the construction of the desalination facility on an artificial island, a proposal that shows Israel’s lack of seriousness on the issue. The cost of building a desalination plant is about half a billion dollars, and the construction of the pipeline to Jordan is another 50-100 million dollars.
On the other hand, considerable progress has been made in Jordan and land has already been allocated to be used for the huge solar field. At the time, the Ministry of Energy rejected the claims and presented progress mainly since the appointment of the project leader on the subject.
Either way, Netanyahu pledged to release the bureaucratic barriers, despite the criticism against the agreement with Jordan from his partners on the right. The one who will be in charge of this will be the Tax Collector, together with Minister Dermer and the other government ministries, especially the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.
The economic issues were an essential part of the meeting between King Abdullah and Netanyahu and it was agreed to hold future meetings in the future. One of the topics the two are expected to discuss is the joint industrial and employment zone project at the Sheikh Hussein Bridge. This is a project designed to provide employment for Jordanian workers in factories established by Israeli companies. This project also proceeded lazily due to delays in the allocation of funds.
According to a Jordanian official privy to the details, it will not be possible to disconnect the Palestinian issue from Israel-Jordan relations, but the Kingdom will be much more willing to promote economic matters mainly, following the King’s meeting with Netanyahu.
Gas from Israel to Saudi Arabia? Further development in the relationship
Over the years, the discoveries of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean have led to a tightening of the relationship between Israel and Greece, Cyprus and Egypt. Among other things, these collaborations are supposed to provide an energy security network to the countries that will connect to the electricity network of the Middle East.
Today, the gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean are mainly routed for internal consumption by Israel and Egypt, but at the same time portions are growing and going for export. In fact, Egypt manages to survive the current severe economic crisis in no small part thanks to the revenues from the natural gas sector. The intention of the Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi administration is to significantly increase production, both to meet the growing internal needs and above all to increase exports.
One of the projects on the agenda is a tripartite move of supplying Israeli and Egyptian gas to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are indeed an energy powerhouse, mainly of oil. However, in order to realize the vision of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which includes the establishment of the innovative city of Neom and tourism projects along the winter Red Sea and the Gulf of Eilat, the Saudis need a large-scale supply of electricity.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman / Photo: Shutterstock
Globes has learned that Egypt will build a gas pipeline that will cross the Gulf of Eilat to Saudi Arabia, and the gas that will be sold to the Saudis will also be from Israeli sources. Although the move is still in its infancy, like the story we revealed last week about the intention to allow Israelis to reach the Saudi-controlled islands of Tiran and Sanfir, the new initiative also indicates the economic warming between the two countries.