Hundreds protest in Jordan against Israeli water power agreement | Protest News

Amman, Jordan – Hundreds of people have gathered in the Jordanian capital, Amman, to protest against the water-exchange agreement between Jordan and Israel.

If the agreement were to be implemented, it would be one of the largest cooperation projects since the countries signed the peace agreement 27 years ago.

Under the agreement, Jordan would receive 200 million cubic meters (7.06 trillion cubic feet) of unsalted water from Israel in exchange for 600 megawatts of electricity generated by a solar power plant funded by the Basque Country in Jordan.

In Friday’s protest, the Jordanians rejected the deal, saying it was going to normalize relations with Israel while it continues to occupy Palestinian territory. Opponents also warned that the deal would force Jordan to be dependent on his neighbor.

“We have the right to live; Palestinians have a right to life, ”Nasreen’s protester told Al Jazeera. “We, the Jordanians, support Palestine, and we care about Jordan. That’s why we’re here today.”

Nasreen had a poster made by his three children. “It’s about being HUMAN,” the poster said.

The project’s “declaration of intent” was signed on Monday by Jordanian Water Minister Dubai, Israel’s energy minister and the Basque Minister for Climate Change, in the presence of US Climate Commissioner John Kerry.

“We do not trust the occupation,” Saleh al-Armouti, a member of the Jordanian parliament, told Al Jazeera, referring to Israel. “If the Israeli occupation signs an agreement, they usually don’t do what they say.”

Water Scarcity

The agreement seeks to address Jordan’s dire need for water and Israel’s goal of expanding its renewable energy mix.

Israel has dramatically increased its ability to salt water and Jordan has large areas of desert that are suitable for solar-powered farms.

Jordanian Water Ministry spokesman Omar Salameh said in a statement that the idea for the project is the growing demand for Jordan’s sustainable water resources, which has increased the growth of the kingdom’s population in recent years.

According to UNICEF, Jordan is the second most water-scared country in the world. Its water supply per capita is expected to be reduced by half by the end of the century, according to a recent Laboratory News report.

The focus of the project was created in 2015 at EcoPeace Middle East, an environmental NGO in the region.

“We really need to focus now on tackling climate change together,” said Jordan’s EcoPeace director Yana Abu Taleb Al Jazeera.

“We need to rebuild healthy interdependencies. We need to look at such cooperation projects for the benefit of our people in order to deal with the dire water situation we now live in as a country, ”he said.

Environmental benefits or political gains?

“The agreement is not about water, but a political decision,” al-Armout said.

Jordanian head of the Environment Union Omar Sushan said the deal was “a political project”.

“You can’t justify this project from climate change; this is a normalization project, ”he told Al Jazeera.

“We need to strengthen our national water network, raise public awareness about water management and use new methods of irrigation in Jordan. This is our strategic choice. We can’t trust Israel, ”Sushan said.

Rund Awwad, an engineer specializing in Jordan’s renewable energy and energy policy, said: “I don’t see this agreement ticking the box for energy and water security … It’s more of a political agreement, not a feasibility or strategy.”

Awwad noted the many “hidden and indirect risks” involved in building a massive area of ​​solar energy.

The project has indicated that it will use a “large amount” of Jordanian land. “I prefer to use it [the land] For strategic projects that will benefit Jordan. ”

He also noted that the 200 million cubic meters to be allocated to Jordan under the agreement is “a very modest amount” compared to Jordan’s water resources capacity.

Awwad said there are other more sustainable and effective methods of tackling Jordan’s water shortage.

For example, climate finance could be used to improve the kingdom’s water storage capacity or to build the Jordan Red Sea desalination project, known as the National Water Carrier Project, he added.

The Jordanian Water Ministry announced plans to implement the National Water Carrier Project in 2021, which will provide 300 million cubic meters (10.6 billion cubic feet) of unsalted water from the shores of the Red Sea in Aqaba. However, the project has a cost of about two billion dinars ($ 2.8 billion) and has had recent funding holes.

Former Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Jawad al-Anani said the viability of the National Water Carrier Project is “very low” and will be “very expensive”.

Al-Anani mentioned the potential benefits of the Israeli-Jordanian water exchange agreement. “From a resource perspective, I think it’s a very good idea,” he told Al Jazeera.

The agreement states its potential to contribute to a greater “economic balance” between Israel and Jordan: “The exchange ensures that if Israel decides to stop supplying gas or water to Israel for political reasons in the future, Jordan will exchange leverage.”

However, others question whether the 600-megawatt electricity from a Basque-funded power plant will give Jordani that lever.

The Basque Country and Israel signed the Abraham Accords in September 2020, which strengthened economic cooperation and has since facilitated multi-billion dollar agreements between the two countries.

“The solar power plant) is funded by the Emirates to support the Israeli occupation. They want to make Israel an economic benchmark in the Middle East,” al-Armuti said.

Commenting on the decision of the BAC to finance the solar plant, Duried Mahasneh, President of EDAMA, Jordan’s environmental non-governmental organization, said: “I understand the goodwill of the Emirates. [helping] To supply water to Jordan, but I would like to do that by improving the desalination of Aqaba, not on the Israeli coast. ”

Although the project to desalinate Akaba is expensive, he added that it would employ Jordanians.

“Also, political sustainability and the environment are important,” Al Jazeera said.

Mahasneh, who was also chairman of the Jordanian-Israeli Joint Water Commission, noted the rocky history of Jordan’s water deals with Israel.

He referred to a 1999 lawsuit in which Israel refused to supply Jordan with 25 million cubic meters (882.9 million cubic feet) of water, and former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu refused to supply Jordan with eight million cubic meters (282.5 million cubic feet) of water. he did. two years ago.

“It’s safer for Jordan to get unsalted drinking water … from Jordan, instead of Israel,” he said.

Protesters took to the streets of central Amman to rally against the deal [Hanna Davis/Al Jazeera]

Al-Armuti stressed that the agreement had to be presented to Parliament, “they had to present it first, but so far nothing has been presented.”

He pointed out Article 33 of the Jordanian constitution, which states that any agreement that entails a financial commitment to the Treasury is invalid unless approved by the National Assembly.

There were strong fears that the final agreement would be managed similar to the 2016 gas deal, as the Jordanian National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) signed a 15-year agreement with Noble Energy to buy billions of dollars of natural gas from Israel.

In 2019, the Jordanian Constitutional Court ruled that the gas agreement did not require parliamentary approval, as the company was wholly owned by the government and therefore was not an official public entity, nor subject to public discretion.

Several lawmakers on Wednesday called for an “urgent” public debate to discuss the declaration of intent document.

“If the people oppose it (the last agreement) and there is no support from the people,” Jawad Al-Anani said, “then the question is, what good is political reform if you don’t comply with political reform? People?”

A spokesman for Jordan’s Water Ministry made it clear in a statement that the statement “is not a technical or legal agreement”.

Jordanian Water Minister Mohammad al-Najjar said in a press conference that feasibility studies for the water energy project will begin in 2022.

Al-Najjar added that if the project is deemed feasible, “they will enter into negotiations to sign agreements and will not sign any agreements until they have informed Parliament, the press, the public and all the press and media.”