Massive demonstration against Jordan-Israel gas deal

A massive demonstration was organised in Amman on Friday against the Jordan-Israel gas deal, Arab21.com has reported. The security services prevented protesters from organising another in Irbid on Thursday, where some protesters were arrested before being released later.

The National Campaign Against the Gas Agreement with the Zionist Entity called for the demonstration, which was launched from Al-Hussein Mosque in central Amman. According to Arabi21, the demonstrators chanted “Occupation gas is occupation” and “people want to cancel the [gas] agreement.”

In the Martyr Azmi Al-Musfti Refugee Camp in the north of the kingdom, Palestinian refugees turned electricity off for one hour in rejection of the agreement.

On Tuesday, Jordan’s National Electric Power Company Ltd (NEPCO), which is state-owned, signed an agreement to import 45 billion cubic metres of gas from Israel. The agreement was signed with the Mediterranean basin-developing company Noble Energy, which owns 39 per cent of the Leviathan natural gas field. Under the terms of the agreement, Jordan will receive 40 per cent of its electricity-generating needs.