Anyone who didn’t get an invitation to the ceremony marking a quarter century of the signing of the peace accord between Israel and Jordan in the Arava Valley shouldn’t be insulted. Such a ceremony won’t take place Oct. 26. Not in Israel or in Jordan, and certainly not together.
I remember well my flight with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1994 in a military helicopter, from the Knesset’s launchpad to the quickly prepared field in the desert, close to the Jordanian border. We disembarked from the helicopter wearing white caps marking the date of the event, and Rabin struggled to contain his great joy. The special relationship with Jordan was out of the closet, and since we weren’t real enemies before the accord was signed, it seemed that now true friendship would flourish, especially since the Knesset was united behind the peace agreement, which couldn’t have happened without the Oslo Accord, which shortly preceded it.