Moving one step closer to formally ending its participation in the Arab boycott of Israel, the lower house of the Jordanian Parliament has passed legislation allowing trade and commercial ties with Israel.
A Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem said the measure was passed by a vote of 59-20. The legislation, which must still be approved by the Jordanian Senate and by King Hussein, would permit business transactions with Israel, as well as the sale of Jordanian land to Israelis.
The bulk of the opposing votes came from the fundamentalist Islamic Action party.
A spokesman for the party said the legislation would pave the way for “”Zionist infiltration” of Jordan and other Arab states.
The vote came one year after Israel and Jordan signed the Washington Declaration, ending the state of belligerency between the two countries and paving the way for the two countries’ peace treaty, signed last October.
Israel and Jordan marked the anniversary this week by sending two planes of relief supplies to the growing number of Muslim refugees in war-torn Bosnia.
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