Shulamit Kaminsky, of Moshav Shadmot Mehola in the Jordan Valley near the Jordanian border, hopes Israel’s peace treaty with its eastern neighbor will make it possible for her to realize a long-held dream.
“To get to the road we see on the other side (of the border), to drive there, get out of the car and look at Shadmot Mehola from the other side of the river,” she told Israel Radio.
“We wake up every morning looking at Jordan,” she said.
“We see the hills and see the lights of the cars at night. It’s so untouchable. Now we can reach out and touch it and see it, and I am looking forward to that opportunity.”
Kaminsky, like other Israelis who live in the Jordan Valley, Beit She’an Valley and the Arava, are reacting to the peace treaty with optimism and relief.
For many residents along Israel’s border with Jordan, the past few months have been shadowed by anxiety and uncertainty.
Farming communities along the border did not know how the agreement would affect them. Those whose fields were on disputed lands feared the worst. The final agreement, ensuring that the Jewish settlements would remain intact, was a relief.
“I think the residents were relieved and grateful,” said Jonathan Cohen, a resident of Kibbutz Yahel in the Arava.
‘LOOKS LIKE WE’LL BE ABLE TO CONTINUE’
“I remember a few months ago, when rumors starting flying and every newspaper had a different theory (about what would happen to us). “All of our lands were disputed territories, and it seemed likely that they would be handed over to the Jordanians.
“But now it looks like we’ll be able to continue to work in our fields,” said Cohen.
Even during the months of uncertainty, the kibbutz — which comprises some 30 families –continued to invest in equipment.
Unlike the situation further north, there is little farming here on the Jordanian side of the border fence. The fields of Kibbutz Yahel overlook a desert landscape, with hills rising in the distance.
Infiltrations from Jordan were the primary security concern at the kibbutz, says Cohen, but in the community’s 18 years of existence, “the border has been mostly quiet.”
He said there were even periods when people at the kibbutz waved to Jordanian patrols across the border.
For Beit She’an Regional Council Chairman Yigal Shahar, life along the border with Jordan further to the north was less secure.
Shahar was born and raised on Kibbutz Maoz Haim, opposite the former Sheikh Hussein Bridge, where a new border crossing to Jordan was constructed this week.
After the 1967 Six-Day War, “We suffered from the War of Attrition (localized border violence from mid-1968 until August 1970), and my children literally grew up in bomb shelters until the Jordanians kicked the (Palestine Liberation Organization) out in 1970,” he told the Jerusalem Post.
“We are witnessing a historic moment, which involves the removal of the barbed wire fences, the destruction of mine fields and the construction of new roads between one country and another,” Shahar said.
Nir Lavish, a member of Kibbutz Kinnerei south of the Sea of Galilee, has similar sentiments.
During the War of Attrition, Lavish endured Katyusha rocket attacks launched by Palestinians from Jordanian territory.
“As a member of the generation that had to live in bomb shelters as children because of the rockets, I can certainly appreciate peace,” said Lavish, who heads the Jordan Valley Regional Council.
For many, peace with Jordan brings with it the prospects for a brighter future along the border regions.
Cohen of Kibbutz Yahel hopes tourism and investment will develop in the Arava as a result of the peace.
David Levy, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, sees opportunities to develop archaeological and Christian religious sites along the Jordan River.
“Because the area is not known any more as having difficulties from a security point of view, it will be more interesting for Christians coming as pilgrims, and Muslims and Jews,” he told Israel Radio.
“The Jordan Valley is geographically a desert, and people will come to see from both sides how people can live here.”
Levy says that living in the Jordan Valley will be dramatically different from the situation that has existed up until now.
“My dream,” he said, “is to take my son fishing on the river. To just go fishing.”
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