JERUSALEM, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that upheavals in the Arab world prove the need for Israel to retain a military and civilian presence in the Jordan Valley, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.
"I am looking at what is happening in Syria and the whole region," Lieberman said, adding that "We can not secure the state of Israel without maintaining control of the Jordan Valley."
The Jordan Valley has been under Israeli military and civilian control according to the 1993 Oslo Accords.
"The Jordan Valley settlements have contributed to ... its security," Lieberman said, calling for strengthening the status of up to 20,000 residents in over 40 civilian and military-civilian communities.
"They should remain where they are," the foreign minister noted.
Some 47,000 Palestinians and Bedouins live on the Israeli- controlled side of the Valley, many in Jericho, just north of the Dead Sea.
Israel controls 87 percent of the area, which represents over a quarter of the entire West Bank. Israel considers the Jordan Valley a crucial security zone for it's eastern flank and has announced that it wants to keep the area in any future permanent status solution with the Palestinians.
In a number of forums last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue holding on the Jordan Valley - - whatever the final outcome of on-and-off talks with the Palestinian National Authority.
"I will sign a final status agreement only if Israel remains in the Jordan Valley. I believe that we are thus acting sensibly, and looking out for the welfare and security of Israel," Netanyahu said, without clarifying if he was referring to civilian or military control.
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