The new border crossing is for third- state nationals only, that is, non- Jordanians and non-Israelis.Hotelkeepers in Eilat are rubbing their hands at the prospect of Saudis coming over to the gaming tables which, by a quirk of Israel's puritanical history, are all on floating platforms and yachts moored offshore. One of the enduring myths of certain special units of the Israeli paratroopers is that they won their maroon berets by slipping across the border into Jordan and infiltrating the rose-red city of Petra Israelis are still in theory not permitted to visit Jordan. Aqaba, in contrast, is Jordan's only port and, until UN sanctions were imposed, served as entrepot for goods going to Iraq.It is in tourism that there are greatest hopes of a peace dividend from the non-belligerency pact signed between Jordan and Israel on 25 July. Naval cutters patrolled the line dividing their territorial waters.In maritime terms, the importance of each port to its respective economy was quite different Eilat handles less than 15 per cent of Israeli trade Haifa is Israel's main port.

Water-skiers on the Jordanian side could gawp at the sunbathers on the Israeli side - but not touch. Yesterday Mr Rabin confirmed for the first time that they had had such contacts.The inauguration of the new border crossing at the mouth of the Arava river has raised hopes of increased tourism to the area, with tour operators keen to follow in Mr Rabin's footsteps and King Hussein's wake.For 46 years, this narrow finger at the top of the Red Sea has been equably shared by two states supposedly at war. However it has been an open secret for years that Mr Rabin and King Hussein have been meeting clandestinely since 1974, when Mr Rabin was also prime minister. He was then whisked off to join King Hussein on his royal yacht which steamed out of Aqaba to cross the narrow bay into Israeli territorial waters. The meeting was the first since they appeared publicly together in Washington last month. It was the first time the head of an Israeli government had publicly set foot on Jordanian territory. The Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, drove across the new land opening north of Eilat in a modest minibus. A NEW era of economic relations was inaugurated yesterday between Jordan and Israel by the opening of a new border crossing near the Israeli port of Eilat and its Jordanian twin, Aqaba.

We do not believe we are doing anything wrong.'We have made a massive investment of around pounds 5m in equipment, which means we can offer charities a very efficient service.'. Nigel Linacre, ITS marketing director, said: 'At the moment, the volume of calls means that we are making no profit whatsoever. I no longer have any connection with either company except that I am a shareholder in ITS Group plc.'Mr Renton, who has a daughter working for Oxfam, later asked the police to escort reporters from his home, claiming harassment.Tom Clarke, Labour's overseas development spokesman, said he was writing to the Prime Minister to ask for a change in charity commission rules which allow private firms to charge up to 7 per cent of funds raised towards their costs.ITS is under investigation by the fraud squad over its Telemillion telephone prize draw game, which was suspended amid accusations that it was a game of chance and therefore an illegal lottery. Our parting was amicable but I did not think that I could contribute any more to their future development.

High street banks make no charge for handling donations. Mr Renton, under pressure from journalists, issued a written statement from his holiday cottage on the Hebridean island of Tiree but refused to comment.The statement said he had resigned as chairman of companies in the ITS Group on 28 July 'as the result of a policy difference over the future direction of the companies. ITS is running the crisis hotline and charging 50p for each call it receives. Mr Renton, a former chief whip and minister for the arts, was chairman of Interactive Telephone Services (ITS), which it is alleged has been making up to pounds 12,500 a day from donations to help the relief effort in Rwanda. TIM RENTON, the Conservative MP at the centre of the Rwanda charity money row, yesterday refused to answer questions about the affair. 'So we are pointing to some success, in boosting condom use in one of the areas most badly affected by Aids anywhere.'Ms Norwood's volunteers, who are mostly either HIV positive or have family members who have contracted the virus, spend two months learning how to counsel others on Aids prevention and the use of condoms, and then start passing on what they have learnt to their peers.There are dozens of representatives of similar programmes from all around the world among the 12,000 delegates in Yokohama and all have problems to share on raising Aids awareness in their own societies.Aids is quietly infiltrating even the most unlikely places: Dr Mohamed Abdelaal Hassan, from the Arab International Centre for Fighting Aids, gave a paper on The Sexual Behaviour of inhabitants of Cemeteries in Cairo, in which he pointed out that housing shortages and poverty were forcing people to live in the many small sepulchres in graveyards, and where overcrowding was leading to irresponsible promiscuity.. 'People are giving up on things, saying this conference has nothing to offer, no scientific success stories,' said Chris Norwood, who set up 'Women against Aids' in the Bronx district of New York in 1989.