The 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty recognized the area to be under Jordanian sovereignty but leased Israeli landowners freedom of entry.[2] The 25-year renewable lease ended in 2019. The treaty gives Jordan the right to end the lease on one condition—that a one-year prior notice is given, which the Jordanian government did, by an announcement made in October 2018.[3]
On 10 November 2019, Jordan reclaimed full control of the area, with King Abdullah II stating that Jordan was asserting "full sovereignty over every inch of those lands".[4]
Land along the Jordan River's alluvial slopes and floor bed was under Jewish ownership before the establishment of the State of Israel.[5] In 1927, Pinchas Rutenberg, founder of the Palestine Electric Company, signed an agreement with King Abdullah I of Jordan to build a hydroelectric power station. The channels and dams built for this purpose, together with the two rivers, created a man-made island. The plant began supplying electricity in 1932. Operations were shut down in the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[6]
Farming continued under a 25-year, automatically renewable lease. A gate was established to enable Israeli tourists to visit the park without a visa or passport, on presentation of their identity cards to the Jordanian guards at the border crossing.[5] As of 2012, tourists could only enter in a group with an authorised guide.[7] Tourism researchers Alon Gelbman and Darya Maoz published an analysis of the stories told by the guides to Israeli tourists.[7]
On March 13, 1997, the AMIT Fuerst (Fürst) Jewish Zionist religiousjunior high school from Beit Shemesh was on a class trip to the Jordan Valley, and Island of Peace. Jordanian soldier Ahmed Daqamseh opened fire at the schoolchildren, killing seven girls aged 13 or 14 and badly wounding six others. In 2013, a petition calling for a special pardon circulated in the Parliament of Jordan garnered overwhelming support of MPs (110/120).
King HusseinofJordan came to Beit Shemesh to extend his condolences and ask forgiveness in the name of his country, a step which was seen as both touching and courageous.[8]
^ abAlon Gelbman and Darya Maoz (2012). "Island of Peace or Island of War: Tourist Guiding". Annals of Tourism Research. 39 (1): 108–133. doi:10.1016/j.annals.2011.05.008.
^"With condolence visit to Israel, King Hussein spurs talks", CNN, March 16, 1997. Accessed July 22, 2007. "King Hussein of Jordan knelt in mourning Sunday with the families of seven Israeli schoolgirls gunned down last week by a Jordanian soldier, saying they were all 'members of one family.'"
