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Jordan-Israel gas deal unconstitutional, insists popular committee

September 28, 2016 at 12:14 pm

The Jordanian Committee for Protecting the Country and Resisting Normalisation [with Israel] insisted on Tuesday that the agreement to buy gas from Israel is “illegal” and “unconstitutional”, Anadolu has reported.

“We do not call it a gas selling deal,” said the committee head, Manaf Mijli, “but a home selling deal. We reject it and condemn it. We have previously rejected it and continued rejecting it.” The committee was established in 1994, the year that Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel.

“The timing of the deal is doubtful and poses many questions,” added Milji. “The current government is just a caretaker and no international agreements can be signed without the approval of parliament, which has previously rejected it.”

According to radio reports on Monday, Jordan will be supplied with 45 billion cubic metres of gas by Israel over 15 years. The deal is believed to be worth around $10 billion.

Critics point out that the gas in Israel’s “Leviathan” field very likely comes from Palestinian territorial waters off the coast of the Gaza Strip.