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It was still my responsibility to ensure that Gaza-Jericho was implemented, and that the initial withdrawals and redeployments went ahead smoothly. And they did. But I also was soon playing a part in a renewed effort by Rabin to use the momentum of Oslo to achieve peace agreements with our other Arab neighbors: the Syrians, although he knew that would be tough, and first the Jordanians. I would always have had some role, by virtue of the need for a chief of staff to weigh in on security issues. But as Yitzhak had done from the start, he involved me and others in his inner political circle in wider discussions on the whole range of negotiating issues. Especially after Oslo, he seemed determined to keep Peres’s role to an absolute minimum. No peace talks are ever completely straightforward, but the process with Jordan was very close to that. The main issues on the Jordanian side involved ensuring a proper share of scarce water supplies; and dealing with Israel’s de facto control of a fairly large area near the southern end of our border. A number of kibbutzim and moshavim were farming the land there. But under the post-1948 armistice, it had been allocated to Jordan. Israel’s priorities were to put in place a fully open relationship of peace and cooperation, and to get assurances Jordan would not allow its territory to be used by Palestinian groups to launch terror attacks. I was struck by how much more easily compromises can be found if you truly trust the party on the other side. From my earlier meeting with Hussein in England, before the Gulf War, I’d been impressed by the king’s thoughtful and measured, yet warm and open, demeanor. That, in itself, inspired trust. But ever since 1967, even in times of high tension, Israel and Jordan had kept open secret lines of communication, and both sides had generally demonstrated a shared desire, and ability, to steer clear of conflict. The main trade-off in the search for a formal peace turned out to be not too difficult. We agreed to ensure water provision, and to accept Jordanian sovereignty over the 1949 armistice area, in return for which the king allowed the Israelis who had been working the land to stay in place as lessees. On the final Wednesday of October 1994, near our border crossing in the Arava desert, | watched as Rabin, King Hussein, and President Clinton formally seal the full “Treaty of Peace Between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.” 263 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_028111