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Jordan tells Israel to return lands leased under 1994 peace deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Jordanian King Abdullah II (right) - AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Jordanian King Abdullah II (right) - AFP

Jordan said Sunday it would not extend the 25-year deal that allows Israel to use two tracts of territory along its border just as Israel said it was still planning to negotiate an extension.

Much of the land in Baquora in the northwestern part of the kingdom and Ghumar in the south is used by Israeli farmers, some of whom were given private land ownership rights and special travel rights under a 1994 peace treaty between the two countries.

The agreement will expire next year.

Jordan's King Abdullah has been under increasing public pressure to end the arrangements with Israel, and told senior Jordanian politicians the kingdom wanted to exercise its "full sovereignty" over the two areas.

"These are Jordanian lands and they will remain," the monarch said. In an "era of regional turmoil" his kingdom - sandwiched between Syria to the north, Iraq to the east and Israel to its west - Jordan wanted to protect its "national interests," Abdullah said.

But Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said he wanted to open negotiations to keep the current arrangement in place.

Under the terms of peace treaty, the lease would be automatically renewed unless either of the parties notified the other a year before expiry that it wished to terminate the agreement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry also said in a statement on Sunday.

Jordan is one of only two Arab states that has a peace treaty with Israel and the two countries have a long history of close security ties.

They have also been expanding economic ties in the last year. But the peace treaty with Israel is unpopular and pro-Palestinian sentiment widespread in Jordan.

Activists and politicians have been vocal against a renewal they say perpetuates Israeli "occupation" of Jordanian territory.

Political ties have also become strained over the Middle East peace process. An incident last year in which an Israeli security guard killed two Jordanian citizens within the Israeli embassy compound added to the tension.