The Yitzhak Rabin Border Terminal, which connects Eilat, Israel, with Aqaba, Jordan. Israel will construct a new fence along its border with Jordan. Photo: NYC2TLV via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The Israeli security cabinet has approved the construction of an 18.64-mile fence along the Jewish state’s southern border with Jordan.

“We made a very important decision to continue a section of fence along our southern border, this time from Eilat, 30 kilometers north past the Timna airport that is under construction,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“It is part of our national security,” he added. “It joins the fence that we built along the length of our border with Sinai, which blocked the entry of illegal migrants into Israel and — of course — the various terrorist movements. This step also joins the fence that we built on our border on the Golan Heights.”

In 2013, Israel completed construction of a fence along its entire border with Egypt in order to prevent terrorist infiltration, smuggling, and African migrants from crossing into Israel from Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula.

The new fence will be built completely within Israeli territory and was approved in coordination with the Jordanian government. Israel considers the new southern Timna airport to be a strategic alternative to Ben Gurion Airport, should the latter come under attack. A rocket fell about a mile from Ben Gurion during last year’s Israel-Hamas war.