Jordan and Israel, with US backing, are looking to reset bilateral ties after more than a decade of a roller-coaster diplomatic ride that saw relations, under former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reach rock-bottom levels. But even as a new coalition government took over in Israel June 13, it took the new premier, Naftali Bennett, almost a month to reach out to Jordan's King Abdullah.

According to Israeli media, Bennett paid a secret visit to Amman in the first week of July — a specific date was not mentioned — that would have made it the first meeting between the king and an Israeli prime minister in three years.

The Jordanian side neither confirmed nor denied the report. But according to Walla news site, which first reported the meeting, Bennett and Abdullah agreed to open a new page in relations and return to normal dialogue between the parties. That encounter paved the way for a meeting July 8 between Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid on the Jordanian side of the border. The men sealed an agreement under which Israel would sell Jordan an additional 50 million cubic meters of water this summer. Israel gives the kingdom 30 million cubic meters annually under the 1994 peace treaty.

They also agreed to boost Jordan’s exports to the West Bank from $160 million to $700 million annually. The sale of the additional quantity of water was initially approved by Netanyahu, but only after the intervention of the new US administration.