Jordanian BDS activists accuse gov't of lying about gas deal with Israel

According to the movement, the Jordanian Energy Minister stated that "Jordan has not canceled the memorandum of intent it signed with Israel.

By MAAYAN GROISMAN
Israel’s natural gas (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Israel’s natural gas
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
A statement released Wednesday by the Jordanian BDS movements suggested that the Jordanian government has not yet canceled its natural gas import deal with Israel, in contrast to what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
According to the movement, Jordanian Energy Minister Ibrahim Saif stated in the recent parliamentary discussion about the Israeli gas imports deal that "Jordan has not canceled the memorandum of intent it signed with Noble Energy in September 2014, but in light of the changes the energy market has witnessed since, we had to review several paragraphs in it."
Speaking at the parliamentary discussion that took place on February 16, with the participation of many members of the Jordanian BDS movement, Saif described the government's policy of diversifying the Kingdom's energy sources, saying that the gas imports deal with Israel is part of this official policy.
Saif said that Jordan has several additional potential natural gas sources, such as Egyptian natural gas from the recently discovered Zohr gas field, or gas imported from Qatar through the port of Aqaba.
 
However, according to BDS activists, the Israeli gas will provide 80% of Jordan's natural gas demand for 15 years, suggesting that the government is only attempting to create the impression that it acts to vary Jordan's energy sources, but has no real intention of doing so.
A member of the Jordanian Parliament, Gaafar Khurani, told the Jordanian news site al-Bawsala that the fact that the government continues negotiating over Israeli gas imports proves that Netanyahu lied to the Israeli High Court of Justice when he claimed that Jordan had canceled the gas deal, in an attempt to pressure the court to authorize a controversial natural gas outline.
A Jordanian economic expert, Fahmi Katut, told the site that the Israeli natural gas deal should be canceled not only because it amounts to normalization with Israel, but also because it is not profitable for Jordan due to the possibility of liquefied natural gas deliveries to the Kingdom by ships from every state in the world at cheap prices.