Former Mossad chief: Jordan Valley not a vital Israeli security asset

Dagan says any political statement citing security reasons for retaining Israeli control of the Jordan Valley is mere manipulation, Maariv reports; Intelligence Min. Steinitz: Anyone who doesn't understand Jordan Valley solution doesn't understand Mideast.

By Haaretz | Jan. 5, 2014 | 11:09 AM

The Jordan Valley is not essential to Israel’s security because the country is not facing a threat from the east, said former Mossad director Meir Dagan, days after a ministerial panel supported legislation to officially annex the Israeli settlements in the valley, which borders Jordan.

“I have no problem with the political demand that the valley should be part of the State of Israel,” Dagan said in a lecture at a Kfar Saba café last week, according to Maariv. “Such a position is permissible. What bothers me is that it’s being depicted as some kind of security problem. There is no Iraqi army, there is no eastern front. There’s peace with Jordan. I don’t like the talk that the valley is essential to Israel’s security.”

Dagan said citing security reasons for retaining the Jordan Valley was “manipulation.”

Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, weighing in on the issue on Sunday during U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the region, told public radio that it would be a mistake to accept any security concessions for the Jordan Valley:

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