Jordanian MPs fume at Israeli gas deal, nationality law

The Jordanian Cabinet sat nervously Nov. 9-10 and listened to scathing attacks by Lower House deputies against the government’s intention to sign a 15-year natural gas deal that would make Israel the kingdom’s main energy supplier.

Outspoken nationalist deputy Abdel Karim al-Dughmi pleaded for the government not to approve the deal. “Slaughter us, but don’t let our enemy have control of our electricity,” he said, while also criticizing “Arab brethren” who export oil and gas but deny them to Jordan. Minister of Energy Mohammad Hamed said that a final agreement had not been signed, and that only a letter of understanding had been reached with an American company, Noble Energy, which is developing Israel’s offshore gas fields.

Hamed told the deputies that the agreement would take pressure off Jordan’s electricity sector, which has suffered over the past three years because of the interruption of Egyptian gas supplies due to attacks on the main gas pipelines in Sinai in addition to the steep rise in oil prices, which has financially crippled the national electric company. The government had taken the unpopular decision to raise the cost of electricity and will do so again in 2015, in spite of the recent drop in international oil prices.

Jordanian economist Yusuf Mansour criticized the natural gas deal with Israel, saying that Jordan should not tie its economic interest to a country that time and again failed to honor its commitments under their peace treaty. He told Al-Monitor that Israel has violated the treaty with regard to allocating Jordan its fair share of drinking water and by threatening the status of Muslim holy sites in East Jerusalem. “We have no clear energy strategy, and now we will be fully dependent on Israel. What kind of a policy is that?” Mansour asked. He said the government should instead focus on developing its shale oil resources.