AQABA, Jordan — The southern border crossing between Israel and Jordan is named after Yitzhak Rabin, the late Israeli prime minister who signed the historic peace treaties between these two countries some 20 years ago. A short, five-minute taxi drive from Eilat’s small airport and you’re there. Outside, the desert is gearing up for another searing summer of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

To make the crossing on foot between the Israel and Jordanian sides, tourists pull out small metal luggage carts ornamented with Israeli and Jordanian flags that were manufactured specifically for the border crossing between these two countries. Once you pay the $25 exit fee from Israel, you are able to go through the crossing. On the Israeli side, passport control is quick, efficient and coolish. On the Jordanian side, the process is slow, sweaty but especially friendly. A big photo of the royal family awaits visitors at the entry point to Jordan. The late King Hussein with his son Abdullah II, the incumbent king, next to him, and on the right 18-year-old Hussein bin Abdullah, the crown prince. They are all sporting smiles. Welcome to Jordan.

For dozens of years Israelis had dreamed about this reality, gazing at it but unable to touch it. For thousands of nights, Aqaba’s lights glistened across from Eilat’s. Only 1 kilometer (0.62 mile) separates these two cities, both of which are perched, shoulder to shoulder, on the northern tip of the Red Sea. Sharing breathtaking sunrises and spectacular sunsets, they are nestled between towering mountain ridges above and rich and colorful schools of fish in the water in between. The Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty, signed in 1994, one year before Rabin's assassination, has transformed this dream into a reality. All that’s left to do is to enjoy the dividends of this peace. It seems to me that these dividends are being cashed in nowadays.

Having stood until a few years ago in the shadow of its more mature and developed sister city of Eilat, the city of Aqaba in Jordan is undergoing major development. In the heart of winter, Eilat's beaches attracted charter flights packed with European tourists coming to enjoy the desert sun and one of the richest and most colorful reefs of fish, dolphins and sharks that any ocean has to offer. Aqaba was left behind. No more. The small Jordanian city has become a bona fide tourist empire. Large hotels were built along its coastline and recreational facilities dot the roads leading to it and continue southbound. The number of tourists is steadily rising. The city is outgoing. The hotels are excellent and hospitality is above reproach.