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Source: http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=12620
Jordan-Israel Relations: Normalization in the Shadow of Political Deadlock
(Institute for National Security Studies) Oded Eran - Progress on implementing infrastructure projects for water and energy between Israel and Jordan indicates the positive potential inherent in separating economic and infrastructure progress from progress on a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It reflects a reality of shortages of energy resources, drinking water, ports; the need to prevent pollution of crowded population centers; and the irrationality of preventing solutions to these issues if they are made conditional upon comprehensively solving all of the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The water and natural gas agreements with Jordan, as well as the electricity agreement signed between Israel and the Palestinians in September 2016, prove that the sides can reach understandings and perhaps full agreements in many areas, and these can create a positive environment, even if they are not substitutes for political agreements. The writer served as Israel's ambassador to the EU and Jordan.