Jerusalem - Just five weeks after the death of his father, Jordan's untested King Abdullah is facing his first crisis: drought, writes David Horovitz. Due to the water shortage throughout the region, Israel is trying to cut back the quantity of water it supplies to the Hashemite kingdom.
Jordan formally announced that it was hit by drought in January, but since then the lack of rainfall - the source of two-thirds of the country's water - has drastically worsened the crisis. The Jordanian government met in emergency session yesterday and began discussing plans for water rationing.
Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting the receding river Jordan yesterday, seemed adamant about the unilateral reduction of supplies to Jordan, promising vaguely to "make it up to our partners in the coming year".