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A Look at the Jordan Valley Israeli PM Has Vowed to Annex

In this file photo taken on June 23, 2019 Israeli soldiers stand guard in an old army outpost overlooking the Jordan Valley between the Israeli city of Beit Shean and the West Bank city of Jericho. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on June 23, 2019 Israeli soldiers stand guard in an old army outpost overlooking the Jordan Valley between the Israeli city of Beit Shean and the West Bank city of Jericho. (AFP)
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A Look at the Jordan Valley Israeli PM Has Vowed to Annex

In this file photo taken on June 23, 2019 Israeli soldiers stand guard in an old army outpost overlooking the Jordan Valley between the Israeli city of Beit Shean and the West Bank city of Jericho. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on June 23, 2019 Israeli soldiers stand guard in an old army outpost overlooking the Jordan Valley between the Israeli city of Beit Shean and the West Bank city of Jericho. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's last-minute vow to annex the Jordan Valley if re-elected next week has sparked Arab condemnation and injected the Palestinians into a political campaign that had almost entirely ignored them.

Netanyahu has made similar promises before but hasn't followed through. His current pledge to annex the Jordanian Valley was widely regarded at home as a campaign stunt to draw in right-wing voters, many of whom live in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu presented the move as a historic "one-time opportunity" to favorably redraw Israeli's borders, at a time when a friendly administration in Washington says it's about to unveil its long-delayed Middle East peace plan. The Jordan Valley makes up about one-fourth of the West Bank, which is the centerpiece of any future Palestinian state.

The prime minister said the move "doesn't annex a single Palestinian." Israelis and Palestinians living in the West Bank aren't afforded the same rights, such as Palestinians not having the right to vote in Israeli elections.

The annexation of the valley would establish a permanent buffer along the border with Jordan and leave the Palestinians with only isolated enclaves surrounded by Israel, all but ruling out their dream of building a hoped-for state. A United Nations spokesman warned the step would be “devastating" to the prospects of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The Associated Press takes a look at the significance of the Jordan Valley:

The geography

The Jordan Valley makes up the eastern edge of the West Bank. It runs some 300 kilometers (185 miles) from the Sea of Galilee in the north along the Jordan River down to the Dead Sea on the Israel-Jordan frontier.

Israel captured the area from Jordan, along with the rest of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 war. Since then, it has established around 30 settlements in the Jordan Valley, which is now home to some 65,000 Palestinians and 11,000 settlers, according to the Israeli rights group B'Tselem. The international community, along with the Palestinians, overwhelmingly considers all Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem illegal.

Outside of the Palestinian city of Jericho and some surrounding communities, about 90 percent of the Jordan Valley falls under full Israeli security and administrative control, meaning the Israeli military polices the territory and its population.

As the lowest place on earth, it has a unique climate that can produce fruits and vegetables year-round. Access to the Dead Sea and its mineral-rich waters also offers tourism and other commercial benefits.

"Israel is clinging to the Jordan Valley because this large area has high economic value," said Sameh al-Abed, a former Palestinian Cabinet minister, according to the AP. "It is the food basket of the Palestinian people and full of natural resources."

A strategic asset

For Israel, the Jordan Valley is considered a key security asset because it provides a buffer zone against potential attacks from the east and assures a defensive line along the country's long frontier with Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

Israelis consider a military presence there to be a keystone of any regional peace accord since it could keep the Palestinian areas demilitarized. It is also sparsely populated by Israeli settlers, most of whom are secular farmers and far less ideologically driven than those deep in the West Bank and in settlements with biblical significance. As such, there is a wide consensus in Israel, even among moderates, that Israel should retain some element of control in the area under any peace deal.

Palestinians, however, say there can be no independent state that doesn't control the border. With annexation they would lose a fertile area, which is home to many Palestinian farms and is one of the few remaining areas of the West Bank with open space for development. They currently have severe limitations on expanding towns and villages and those built without hard-to-get permits — like the Bedouin encampment of Khan al-Ahmar — face standing demolition orders.

"Israel kept the Jordan Valley empty of Palestinians over the years just for this moment, the annexation," said Nidal Fukah, a community activist in the town of Kardala.

Israeli politics

Netanyahu has made various vows to impose Israeli sovereignty over occupied territory before but has yet to follow through because of the long-reaching consequences. His presentation Tuesday was far more detailed, though, pointing to a map as he made his case.

Among Israelis, there seems to be widespread opposition to any withdrawal from the area. Many believe a return to the pre-1967 lines is untenable. At the narrowest point along Israel's coastal plain, the distance between the Mediterranean Sea and the West Bank is just 15 kilometers (nine miles) wide, leaving many Israelis concerned about the country possibly being split in two in a future military conflict.

Without the Jordan Valley, Jerusalem would also be surrounded on three sides by Palestinian land.

Netanyahu's main rival in the September 17 elections, retired military chief Benny Gantz, has also vowed to retain control over the Jordan Valley. But he has stopped short of calling outright for annexation and dismissed Netanyahu's announcement as campaign theatrics.

End of a Palestinian dream

For Palestinians, Israeli annexation of the Jordan Valley could be devastating to any remaining hopes of establishing a state that includes the West Bank.

Jericho, the valley's main population center, would be engulfed on all sides by Israeli territory, and the remainder of the West Bank would be surrounded by Israel to the east and west. With Netanyahu pledging further annexations, the Palestinians would be left only with small, disconnected enclaves — making it difficult, if not impossible, to move from place to place or establish a viable state.

In his presentation, Netanyahu suggested establishing road links for Palestinians to neighboring Jordan — a scenario that neither the Palestinians nor Jordan seem to want.

"Killing all chances for peace for electoral purposes is irresponsible, dangerous," Jordan's Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, wrote on Twitter.

For this reason, the UN, the European Union and the Arab world have come out strongly against Netanyahu.

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Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
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Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

In the Mazzeh 86 neighborhood, west of the Syrian capital Damascus, the names of many shops, grocery stores, and public squares still serve as a reminder of the era of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad.

This is evident in landmarks like the “Al-Hafez Restaurant,” one of the prominent features of this area. Squares such as “Al-Areen,” “Officers,” and “Bride of the Mountain” evoke memories of the buildings surrounding them, which once housed influential officials and high-ranking officers in intelligence and security agencies. These individuals instilled fear in Syrians for five decades until their historic escape on the night of the regime’s collapse last month.

In this neighborhood, the effects of Israeli bombing are clearly visible, as it was targeted multiple times. Meanwhile, its narrow streets and alleys were strewn with military uniforms abandoned by leaders who fled before military operations arrived and liberated the area from their grip on December 8 of last year.

Here, stark contradictions come to light during a tour by Asharq Al-Awsat in a district that, until recently, was largely loyal to the former president. Muaz, a 42-year-old resident of the area, recounts how most officers and security personnel shed their military uniforms and discarded them in the streets on the night of Assad’s escape.

He said: “Many of them brought down their weapons and military ranks in the streets and fled to their hometowns along the Syrian coast.”

Administratively part of Damascus, Mazzeh 86 consists of concrete blocks randomly built between the Mazzeh Western Villas area, the Mazzeh Highway, and the well-known Sheikh Saad commercial district. Its ownership originally belonged to the residents of the Mazzeh area in Damascus. The region was once agricultural land and rocky mountain terrain. The peaks extending toward Mount Qasioun were previously seized by the Ministry of Defense, which instructed security and army personnel to build homes there without requiring property ownership documents.

Suleiman, a 30-year-old shop owner, who sells white meat and chicken, hails from the city of Jableh in the coastal province of Latakia. His father moved to this neighborhood in the 1970s to work as an army assistant.

Suleiman says he hears the sound of gunfire every evening, while General Security patrols roam the streets “searching for remnants of the former regime and wanted individuals who refuse to surrender their weapons. We fear reprisals and just want to live in peace.”

He mentioned that prices before December 8 were exorbitant and beyond the purchasing power of Syrians, with the price of a kilogram of chicken exceeding 60,000 Syrian pounds and a carton of eggs reaching 75,000.

“A single egg was sold for 2,500 pounds, which is far beyond the purchasing power of any employee in the public or private sector,” due to low salaries and the deteriorating living conditions across the country,” Suleiman added.

On the sides of the roads, pictures of the fugitive president and his father, Hafez al-Assad, were torn down, while military vehicles were parked, awaiting instructions.

Maram, 46, who previously worked as a civilian employee in the Ministry of Defense, says she is waiting for the resolution of employment statuses for workers in army institutions. She stated: “So far, there are no instructions regarding our situation. The army forces and security personnel have been given the opportunity for settlement, but there is no talk about us.”

The neighborhood, in its current form, dates back to the 1980s when Rifaat al-Assad, the younger brother of former President Hafez al-Assad, was allowed to construct the “Defense Palace,” which was referred to as “Brigade 86.” Its location is the same area now known as Mazzeh Jabal 86.

The area is divided into two parts: Mazzeh Madrasa (School) and Mazzeh Khazan (Tank). The first takes its name from the first school built and opened in the area, while the second is named after the water tank that supplies the entire Mazzeh region.

Two sources from the Mazzeh Municipality and the Mukhtar’s office estimate the neighborhood’s current population at approximately 200,000, down from over 300,000 before Assad’s fall. Most residents originate from Syria’s coastal regions, followed by those from interior provinces like Homs and Hama. There was also a portion of Kurds who had moved from the Jazira region in northeastern Syria to live there, but most returned to their areas due to the security grip and after the “Crisis Cell” bombing that killed senior security officials in mid-2012.

Along the main street connecting Al-Huda Square to Al-Sahla Pharmacy, torn images of President Hafez al-Assad are visible for the first time in this area in five decades. On balconies and walls, traces of Bashar al-Assad’s posters remain, bearing witness to his 24-year era.