Israeli Army Radio has reported that two explosive devices were detonated near a car carrying three Israeli diplomats on Jan. 14 in Jordan. The attack occurred near the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the West Bank. The Israeli Foreign Ministry at this time is not commenting on the attempted assassination of Israeli officials. No one was hurt in the attack.
On the fifteenth anniversary of peace between Israel and Jordan, a new poll commissioned by The Israel Project (TIP) shows intense Jordanian hostility toward the Jewish state. The poll, face-to-face interviews of 250 Jordanians, was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQRR) as part of a larger study for TIP that included interviews with 250 Gazans, 250 people in the West Bank and 500 Egyptians.
The poll found that the Jordanian public, comprised largely of Palestinians, is opposed to accepting and engaging Israel. Not a single respondent gives Israel a favorable rating, a level of rejection that GQRR has never seen toward anyone or any entity in its 29-year history as a firm. In Jordan, Israel gets 99 percent very cool ratings (ratings between 0-25 on a scale that ranges from 0 to 100).
Even 15 years after peace was made between Israel and Jordan, Jordanians have not reconciled themselves to the existence or permanence of Israel as a Jewish state. Less than a quarter of respondents in Jordan think Israel has the right to exist, and three-quarters think Israel is “not necessarily here to stay as a permanent Jewish state.†It is not surprising, therefore, to find that most Jordanians also oppose the country’s diplomatic relations with Israel.
Nevertheless, Jordanians are divided over a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians; and they largely agree (50 to 35 percent) that in retrospect, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat should have accepted President Clinton’s peace proposals at Camp David. That said, a strong majority of Jordanians, 66 percent, believe that peace between the Palestinians and Israel is not likely in the next five years.
While a slight majority believes the Palestinians should negotiate directly with Israel, the Jordanians continue to support terrorism and targeting civilians. In Jordan, three-quarters agree that targeting Israeli civilians or sending suicide bombers is justified to fight the occupation and defend the Palestinians.
And while the Gaza crisis produced support for stopping the rocket attacks among Egyptians and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, Jordanians are an outlier, supporting the continuing use of rocket attacks by a 2-1 margin.
“Jordan has a very large Palestinian population, but they are out of the line of fire in the West Bank and Gaza. On a number of measures, Jordanians are very rejectionist and stand out from their neighbors,†said Stanley Greenberg, Ph.D., the chairman of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.
Said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, founder and president of The Israel Project, “The data show that most Jordanians get their information on Israel from the Arab media – and the attitudes resulting from what they see are catastrophic. It is critical for Jordan to open up their TV shows to the reality of the many coexistence projects that are enabling Jews and Arabs to work together to create jobs and hope.â€
Above are key findings from a nationally representative survey fielded July 8-16, 2009 in Jordan of 257 respondents with a margin of error of +/- 6.1 percent. Click here for more information on data from the poll in Egypt, and click here for more information on data from the poll in Gaza and the West Bank.
Anniversary of Peace Treaty Between Israel and Jordan
Monday (Oct. 26) will mark the fifteenth anniversary of the peace accord between Israel and Jordan. The agreement, signed Oct. 26, 1994 at the Arabah border crossing between the two countries, was Israel’s second peace treaty with an Arab state; Israel signed an earlier peace deal with Egypt in 1979.
The peace treaty settled differences between Jerusalem and Amman over a number of significant issues. Apart from the actual declaration of peace, it finalized the border between the countries; created an agreement over water issues; guaranteed access and respect for mutual holy places; and normalized diplomatic and economic relations.
Relations between Israel and Jordan encompass a number of issues on which there is significant cooperation and collaboration. Trade between the two countries continues to grow, as does the tourism industry. Israel has assisted Jordan with agricultural development; Jordanians have participated in agricultural workshops in Israel; and Israeli experts have visited Jordan. There have also been plans to solve the problem of the decreasing level of the Dead Sea which lies within both Israeli and Jordanian territory.
However, ongoing political problems in the region, specifically between Israel and the Palestinians, add strain to relations between Amman and Jerusalem. Tensions over the peace process, violence emanating from Gaza and concerns over holy sites in Jerusalem present continued challenges to the Israel-Jordan relationship.
