JERUSALEM — Under internal political pressure, King Abdullah II of Jordan announced on Sunday that he was cutting off Israelis’ free access to two tracts of land along the border that fall in sovereign Jordanian territory, but where Jews historically had private land use rights. For nearly a quarter of a century, as part of the 1994 peace treaty between the two former foes, Israeli farmers and tourists have enjoyed the fruits and picturesque attractions of the areas. One of them, a pocket of land about 10 miles south of the Sea of Galilee, sandwiched between the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers, is known in Hebrew as “the Island of Peace.”“Al-Baqura and Al-Ghamr have always been our top priority,” King Abdullah said, referring to the two areas by their Jordanian names. The royal decision was confirmed in an emergency session of the Jordanian cabinet at which the king said Jordan would “exercise full sovereignty” over its land.

Source: New York Times October 21, 2018 17:49 UTC