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Jordanian MPs fume at Israeli gas deal, nationality law

With hostility toward Israel running high, parliamentary deputies attack the government's plan to sign a 15-year natural gas deal with Israel.
National Jordanian and Israeli flags are seen on the Naharayim bridge on the border between Israel and Jordan north-eastern Israel October 22, 2014. With attacks by Hezbollah from Lebanon, the threat from Islamic State and the Nusra Front in Syria and growing unrest in Egypt's Sinai, the north and south of Israel?s borders are on edge. By comparison, the eastern frontier with Jordan looks like an oasis of calm. Yet the Hashemite kingdom, wedged between Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia as well as Israel and the

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.

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