The Ministry of War in the occupation government announced what it called the "plan to strengthen the eastern border with Jordan" to consolidate comprehensive security and raise the level of readiness along the longest land border of the occupying power.
According to Israeli media, the plan includes the establishment of about 40 new settlement outposts between the Tzimah crossroads in the north and the Eilot area in the south, in addition to expanding and strengthening defense systems and developing infrastructure in the area.
In reports published on Tuesday, July 7, the Israeli occupation army's Eastern Region, Mordechai Benita, presented the Ministry of Army's plan to strengthen settlement security along the border, including the establishment of dozens of settlement sites in addition to the settlement of armed settlers, as part of the expansion of Israeli influence in the area.
A Defense Plan with Political Dimensions
Jordanian research centers said that the Israeli plan is an urgent strategic shift that reflects the Israeli government's concern over what it describes as "escalating threats" along its longest land border, explaining that the plan is not limited to technical or military measures only, but also carries intertwined political and security dimensions.
The centers pointed out that military estimates confirm the allocation of an initial budget for the plan of approximately 4 billion shekels (about 1.1 billion US dollars) for the implementation of the first phase, which includes the so-called "Smart Eastern Wall" project and the preparation of a new military brigade known as the "Eastern Elite Brigade", to be exclusively responsible for securing this front and accelerating the field response.
Sources from inside the occupied territories spoke about the Israeli government's attempts to suggest that the plan is defensive and targets "non-state actors", while stressing the continuation of security coordination with Jordan under the peace treaty despite the political stalemate and pressure from the Jordanian street that rejects the occupation's practices.
A Historical Look at the Western Jordanian Border
Jordanian and Palestinian studies and reports prove that Jordan's border with occupied Palestine, which is the longest with a length of more than 300 kilometers, has witnessed a series of historical transformations that have moved it from a direct military front line to a security front governed by international agreements, to the current state of alert.
Reports pointed out that in the wake of the 1948 war, the Rhodes Agreement drew the armistice lines between Jordan and Israel, so that the West Bank would come under Jordanian administration, while that phase was characterized by guerrilla infiltration operations and harsh Israeli revenge raids such as the Qibiya massacre, and then the 1967 war came to place the Jordan River as a direct ceasefire line between the Jordanian and Israeli armies.
During the late 1960s, the Jordan Valley turned into an open front of attrition, most notably the Battle of Dignity, before the events of September 1970 led to the withdrawal of Palestinian armed factions from Jordan, which brought the border into a state of "security and intelligence calm" that lasted for decades.
The Palestinian Lod Research Center considered that the most prominent turning point in the reality of the border with Jordan came with the Wadi Araba Treaty signed on October 26, 1994, which laid the legal and international basis for the organization of the borders to this day, as it recognized the precise international borders, and stipulated a security annex that prevents the use of territory as a base for attacks or hostile acts, with the establishment of a direct security and intelligence coordination mechanism. It also included special arrangements for the lands of Al-Baqoura and Al-Ghamr, over which Jordan regained full sovereignty in 2019.
PCHR pointed out that with this path, the borders have moved from bloody frontlines to a security front controlled by agreements, but today they are returning to the circle of tension with the Israeli occupation announcing plans to strengthen them, which opens the door to a new test of the durability of these agreements in light of a changing regional reality.
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