Jordan and Israel seek European recognition of common free zone area

Israeli sources in occupied Jerusalem were quoted as saying that Israeli and Jordanian officials are seeking for the joint industrial zone on the Jordan river to be recognized as a free trade area by the European Union.

The director-general of the joint Jordanian -Israeli "Jordan Gateway Projects" said that the company seeks from the European Union to be accepted as an experimental project so as to be recognized as a special zone as it had been by the US.

He added the first phase of this project, which intends to develop a joint industrial site on an area of 250,000 hectares of the Jordanian territories, especially on the Jordan River, will start within several months. He said the company will spend US $80 million to set up a storage zone in an area of 314,000 square meters of the Jordanian territories.

Meanwhile, Students at the Jordanian University reiterated its strong objection to the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Jordan on Wednesday, accompanied by newly-appointed Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon. The Jordanian students reject all forms of normalization with Israel. The chairman of the student council at the Jordanian University, al-Harith Fakhri, said in a statement he made on Thursday that, "The university students expressed their rejection and refusal of the visit made by Netanyahu and Sharon and organized a sit-in at the university headquarters where the Israeli flag was burnt and slogans were chanted condemning terrorists.

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