Israel and Jordan reached agreements on water supply and trade during a meeting between Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid on Thursday.
Tel Aviv has agreed to increase its water supply to Jordan, promising up to 50 cubic metres of water to be delivered this year, Mr Lapid said on Thursday.
The meeting at the King Hussein Bridge between Jordan and the West Bank was the first high-level talks Jordan has held with Israel's new government.
The talks come after years of limited diplomatic contact due to strained relations between Jordan and former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
An agreement reached on trade will raise the ceiling on Jordanian exports to the West Bank from $160 million annually to around $700m, including $470m to be put towards “products that meet Palestinian standards".
The two ministers also discussed transport and energy issues. The terms of the agreements will be finalised in the coming days.
“The kingdom of Jordan is a neighbour and important partner to the state of Israel,” said Mr Lapid.
Israel and Jordan made peace in 1994 and maintain close security ties, but relations have been strained in recent years due to Israel’s expansion of Jewish settlements and crackdowns on Palestinian dissent.
During the meeting, the ministers discussed the issue of Palestine, with Mr Safadi urging Israel to find a political solution to end the occupation and move towards a two-state solution that both nations agree on, a statement released by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said.
Mr Safadi said it would be a “war crime” for Israel to displace the Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, and stressed the importance of respecting the historic and legal status of the Haram Al Sharif, Islam's third holiest site.
Both of these issues were flashpoints that led to an 11-day war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas in May.
Jordan's foreign minister called on Israel to halt all illegitimate actions that are obstructing the possibility of reaching a two-state solution.
The Israeli Army on Thursday demolished the West Bank family home of a Palestinian-American accused of a deadly shooting. The demolition drew a rebuke from the US, which criticised Israel's policy of razing the homes of those it accuses of carrying out attacks against it.
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• Remittance charges will be tackled by blockchain
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More coverage from the Future Forum
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
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In numbers
Number of Chinese tourists coming to UAE in 2017 was... 1.3m
Alibaba’s new ‘Tech Town’ in Dubai is worth... $600m
China’s investment in the MIddle East in 2016 was... $29.5bn
The world’s most valuable start-up in 2018, TikTok, is valued at... $75bn
Boost to the UAE economy of 5G connectivity will be... $269bn
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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The bio:
Favourite holiday destination: I really enjoyed Sri Lanka and Vietnam but my dream destination is the Maldives.
Favourite food: My mum’s Chinese cooking.
Favourite film: Robocop, followed by The Terminator.
Hobbies: Off-roading, scuba diving, playing squash and going to the gym.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Tomorrow 2021
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
