JERUSALEM, Nov 11 (NNN-MA’AN) – A decades-long deal, enabling Israel to lease a Jordanian border territory has been extended by six months.
Located in the Negev Desert south of the Dead Sea, the territory is called Tzofar in Hebrew and al-Ghamr in Arabic.
A military spokesperson said, the lease had been extended with new terms through April, 2020. Under the agreement, the territory was declared “a closed military zone” with access allowed only to farmers.
A security officer told the Hebrew-language news site of Ynet that, Israeli farmers entered the territory on Sunday morning to work the land.
The deal will expire in the spring, which coincides with the end of the agricultural season in the region, after which Israel will return the territory to Jordan.
Tzofar was supposed to be returned to Jordan on Saturday, together with Naharayim, or Baqoura in Arabic, a land in the Jordan Valley where the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers meet.
In the 1994 peace treaty, Jordan agreed to let Israel lease both sites for 25 years.– NNN-MA’AN