The Compass – The signing of a new agricultural agreement by the government and the Israeli occupation raised questions about the political implications of this agreement, which comes after a long period of strained relations between the two parties, and the extent of popular acceptance of normalizing relations with the occupation, especially since the Jordanian side refused to take pictures with the Israelis during the signing of the agreement. .

According to the Hebrew newspaper, Israel Home, The agreement, signed by Agriculture Minister Khaled Khleifat and his Israeli counterpart Oded Forer, provides for the supply of Jordanian agricultural products to the Israeli entity during the Jewish Sabbath year of rest (Shmita), in which religious Jews refrain from plowing and farming.

The media spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Lawrence Majali, said in media statements; The implementation of the agreement starts from September 2021 until September 2022, noting that “it will raise Jordanian exports to the Israeli side to more than 50,000 tons of vegetables and fruits during this period, which will positively affect the agricultural sector.”

Trade union and partisan rejection

for its part; The Syndicate of Agricultural Engineers denounced “voices calling for allowing the export of Jordan’s goods to the Zionist enemy.”

In a statement, the union issued a call to “the sons of the country, farmers and merchants, to be a protective shield for Jordan from attempts to normalize agricultural penetration, which will bring nothing but harm to the citizen and the homeland.”

She added that “the economic tragedies that Jordan and the Arab countries are suffering from; It is a product of the practices of the enemy entity, which is working hard to stop the progress of these countries at various levels, the most important of which is agriculture.”

The Syndicate affirmed that its position towards the agreement “emerges from the Jordanian national interest, especially in light of the escalation of Zionist threats to the land and sanctities, which poses a direct danger to Jordan, not only to Palestine.”

The official in charge of the file against normalization in the Islamic Action Front party, agricultural engineer Muhammad Marwan, said; “Saving Jordanian agriculture cannot be done through the Zionist gate,” he asked, “Since when did the Jordanian politician dare to brag about the normalization relationship and joint cooperation with the usurping entity?”

He added to “Arabi 21” that “Israel is the problem, and it is the cancer of the region and its epidemic,” stressing that there are many solutions to the problem of agriculture in Jordan, such as “supporting farms and facilitating their task, collecting our water rights, and establishing an independent agricultural airport specialized in exporting Jordanian agricultural products to the world, Protecting the national product, and stopping suspicious imports.”

Marwan repeated the question: “Is it not the dream of the Jordanian agricultural airport, which could have solved the problem of agriculture? Was it blown up based on Zionist pressure on Jordan? Aren’t the Zionists drying up the waters of the Jordan River to serve their farmers? Are not their pigs and their fires destroying the farms of the North in our country?”

On the sidelines of the Jordanian-Israeli agreement, they discussed the passage of Jordanian agricultural, animal and vegetable exports to the Palestinian markets, in addition to the issue of the spread of fires to the Jordanian side and compensation for farmers affected by the recent extended fires, according to the spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Lawrence Majali, who confirmed that “the Israeli side promised to study and follow up on these issues.” All issues, and work on them as quickly as possible.

“A deceptive attempt”

Political analyst Hisham Al-Bustani said that the agreement constitutes an attempt to show the new Israeli political leadership, as if it is more cooperative and understanding with Jordan than the previous Netanyahu government.

He told Arabi21; This attempt contains a lot of misinformation. The current Prime Minister of the occupation, Naftali Bennett, is one of the settlement hawks in the Zionist entity, adding: “If the Jordanian authorities still see settlements as a strategic threat to them; The first is to deal with Bennett as a continuation of this threat led by the Zionist right.”

Al-Bustani criticized linking the fate of the Jordanian farmer to the hand of the Zionist investment, describing it as “a catastrophic episode of linking the country organically with the Zionist entity, and this is done through water and gas projects, and now it seems that there is an effort to introduce the agricultural sector on this line.”

He said that “nothing positive can come to Jordan from the relationship with the Zionist entity,” recalling that “the Jordanian crude olives were exported to the Zionist entity, and pressed there, to be exported again to other countries as the industry of Israel, which seeks to acquire the whole region.”

agreement without pictures

According to the Hebrew newspaper, Israel Home, “Jordan’s representatives refused to take a joint photo with the Israelis,” which observers attributed to avoiding the public’s contemptuous reaction to the printmakers with the occupation.

Agricultural engineer Mohamed Marwan said; Jordan’s representatives’ refusal to take pictures with Israeli officials is an evasion of confronting the Jordanian people, who reject normalization with the Zionist enemy, stressing that farmers do not accept dealing with the Israelis directly, and that most deals are done through intermediaries.

And he indicated that “the Jordanians view the photo-takers with the Israelis as either agents, or as printmakers,” noting that “if these photos were taken, It will serve the Zionist entity, which wants to establish its presence in the Middle East, and demonstrate that there is normal commercial dealings with it in the ocean.”

for his part; Political analyst Hisham Al-Bustani said; The refusal to take pictures “indicates the shame and fear of these officials that their pictures will spread; Because they know in their hearts that their normalization with the occupation is rejected and popularly condemned.”

He added, “The Jordanian citizen is not in a position to reject normalization, as he has previously rejected the gas agreement, and the Israeli enemy’s penetration of Jordanian society through the Wadi Araba agreement has failed,” stressing that the acceptance of some farmers to export to the Zionist entity does not reflect popular public opinion, and the evidence for this is the officials’ refusal to capture Pictures”.

Arabic 21