Jordan to Discuss Unpopular Israeli Gas Deal

Jordan’s lower house of parliament has said it will hold a session on January 19 to discuss an agreement between its national electric power company (Nepco) and US-based Noble Energy on the import of Israeli gas, in response to strong opposition to the deal, local media have reported.

Noble announced the launch of gas sales to Jordan from its Leviathan gas field off Israel on January 1, under a 15-year supply contract signed in 2016. This contract has been condemned by some Jordanian political factions, given Jordan and Israel’s icy relationship.

“It’s a black day in the history of Jordan and a crime against the nation and a national catastrophe that makes our sovereignty hostage and the energy sector in the hands of the Zionist occupation,” the Islamic Action Front, the country’s main political opposition, said in response to the start of Israeli supplies, according to Reuters.

During the upcoming session all of Jordan’s energy deals will be put up for debate, house speaker Atef Tarawneh said on January 5. A previous session on the issue in March last year resulting in the chamber declaring its “utter rejection” of the gas deal,” calling for its cancellation “at all costs.”

Israel and Jordan signed a landmark peace accord in 1994 but tensions between the former adversaries remain strained to this day.