Israel to build fence along border with Jordan

Israel's Security Cabinet approved the construction of a massive fence along part of its eastern border with Jordan, an official statement said Monday.

According to the plan, the fence will stretch over 30 km from Israel's most southern city of Eilat towards the designated site of a new airport, north of Eilat.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office released a statement explaining that the plan was coordinated with the Jordanians.

"I would like to make it clear that this fence will be entirely within the territory of the State of Israel," Netanyahu said in the statement. "It will not, in any way, infringe on the sovereignty of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and its national interests."

In 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty and kept friendly relations since then.

However, hundreds of thousands of Syrian and Iraqi refugees have been fleeing to Jordan over the past three years, causing concerns among Israeli security officials that the Islamic Jihad militants might infiltrate into Israel through Jordan.

"The substantial stream of refugees in Jordan increase the risk of infiltration by international Jihadist operatives," a security official told Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper.

Jordan is Israel's only border country not blocked by fence. The Jewish state already has a security fence along its border with Lebanon.

Fearing spillover from the conflict in Syria, Israel also built a fortified fence along its northern border in the Golan Heights.

Much of the occupied Palestinian West Bank and the entire Gaza Strip are separated by walls and fences.

In 2013, Israel completed the construction of a 240-km-long high-tech fence along its Egyptian border to prevent African asylum seekers from entering the country. Endit