(MENAFN- Jordan Times) The agreements reached by Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) at last week's meeting of the 5th Joint Jordanian-Palestinian Higher Committee, held in Amman, is living testimony to the cooperation the two sides are determined to achieve in the months and years ahead.
At the meeting, co-chaired by Prime Minister Hani Mulki and his Palestinian counterpart, Rami Hamdallah, five memoranda of understanding were signed to further cooperation between the two sides at all levels, serve mutual interests and strengthen economic and trade relations. The agreements cover collaboration in a variety of sectors, including energy, education, health, infrastructure, construction and housing.
This close cooperation is not new; the two sides have built solid bridges of collaboration and coordination between them in the course of many decades.
For Jordan, the premier stressed, the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a top priority; Jordan believes that the core conflict in the region is the Palestinian issue, and the region will not enjoy security and stability without a just, permanent and comprehensive solution to the conflict, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions.
Those entail the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, a demand repeatedly expressed by His Majesty King Abdullah in various regional and international fora.
The committee meeting is expected to help increase trade, which stood at $176 million in 2016 and $90 million in the first half of 2017, between the two sides, very much needed by the Palestinians, whose institutional and development work is hindered by the Israeli military occupation and a steep, 70 per cent, drop in foreign assistance.
That, without mentioning the suffering of the Palestinians under the apartheid Israeli regime.
The two sides expressed determination to take cooperation to a new level and stressed the need to complete joint projects of interest to both, most important among them the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project and the Japanese initiative 'Corridor for Peace and Prosperity' that seeks to enhance development and peace efforts.
Of course, as long as Israel continues to occupy the West Bank and prevents the development of the infrastructure that would connect the two sides faster and more efficiently, there will be a limit to how far Jordan and the PA can go to increase trade between them, but the strong bond tying Jordanians and Palestinians will continue.
Jordan is the strategic depth of the Palestinians, and will continue to stand by the people suffering under a ruthless occupation.
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