AMMAN, Jordan — Jordanian citizens and residents opposed to normalization of ties with Israel have not been shy in making their opinion known when it comes to the prospect of Jordan acquiring natural gas from neighboring Israel. In their most recent effort to be heard, thousands took to the streets of Aqaba, Irbid, Karak and Zarqa, chanting “From north to south, we refuse looted gas,” voicing their rejection of a deal that continues to inch closer and closer to full implementation.

The protests, held Jan. 10, followed the launch of a three-month trial run by the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) to pump gas from Israel's offshore Leviathan field, for which the US-based Noble Energy Company and an Israeli conglomerate hold the concession. NEPCO signed a deal with Noble and the conglomerate to import gas from the Mediterranean in 2016. 

Opponents of the agreement cite political and economic reasons for their rejection of the arrangement. Jamal Jit, a political activist from Irbid who took part in the Jan. 10 protests, told Al-Monitor, “The government will not force us to normalize [relations] with Israel by lighting Jordanians’ houses with this gas.” Jit views the gas as rightfully belonging to the Palestinians and thus in his eyes “looted.”

Protesters in Zarqa, east of Amman, cast Israel as the enemy, carrying photos of Jordanian soldiers who had died in the Battle of Karameh (1968), at which the Jordanian army and Palestinian factions fought against the Israeli military. On the photos was written, “Do not trade my blood for gas”.