AMMAN — The
government came under fire on
Wednesday as lawmakers denounced last month’s controversial
declaration of intent, signed by Jordan, UAE, and Israel to exchange energy for water. The
deal, signed in
Dubai, aims to have Jordan receive at least 200 million cubic
meters of water per year from Israel, in exchange for green electricity
produced by a UAE-financed solar plant in the southern Jordanian desert. Prime
Minister
Bisher Khasawneh and members of his Cabinet were present as a majority
of lawmakers voiced their objection to the proposed deal and most attacking the
government for engaging in an unpopular form of normalization with Israel.
اضافة اعلان
Khasawneh responded to critics by saying
that it is incorrect to consider the declaration “as an agreement.” He also
stressed that Jordan’s water scarcity issues cannot be ignored, hinting that
dire solutions are needed to secure the future of the next generation of
Jordanians.
Deputy Tamam Riyati told
Jordan News that
even if the issue at hand is only a declaration of intent instead of being an
official agreement, “this still does not exempt it from criticism by the
Jordanian people”. She added: “As a member of Parliament, I am noticing that the
full efforts of the Lower House nowadays are being exclusively steered towards
vehemently condemning the declaration.”
Riyati also expected that there “might be
a vote (by lawmakers) regarding the declaration, although the chances of this
vote taking place is dependent on the government’s discretion and whether it
will allow such a vote to take place.”
She and other deputies criticized the
government’s defense of the proposed deal saying that it was not based on facts
and objective analysis but on “emotionally-charged rhetoric” and “appeal to
people’s emotions” as Riyati put it. She added that the government had to
resort to hyperbolic claims like: “Jordanians might die of thirst in the future
if we don’t solve the water crisis.”
While she and other colleagues are not
denying that Jordan is facing a serious water scarcity issue, they say that
Jordan’s hasn’t done enough to explore other alternative solutions. “There are
a number of viable plans and strategies that Jordan should consider,” Riyati
said. “If we focus on these strategies, we will surely find some solutions,”
she concluded.
On his part Deputy
Khalil Attieh told
Jordan News that a majority of lawmakers oppose the declaration. “Jordan can
resort to local solutions like desalinating Red Sea water to address its water
challenges.” In his responding to some queries, Khasawneh recommitted his
government to the National Water Carrier as a strategic goal.
“The National Water Carrier Project along
with pursuing the need to ensure the delivery of more water from Syria, as part
of our share from the Yarmouk River deal are both viable alternatives, but they
are by no means the only solutions available,”Attieh said.
He added that he has written a document
containing at least 10 alternative solutions, all of which do not involve any
deals with Israel, and that “these solutions have the potential to provide
Jordan with amounts of water that are three to four times greater than the
amounts promised under the declaration.”
Some of the solutions Attieh supports
include proposing that the government exploits deep aquifers in areas such as
Husban, Swaqqa, and Al-Hassa, claiming that aquifers from these areas could
yield up to 50 million cubic meters per year.
He reiterated that Jordanians have the
right to protest peacefully against the declaration, and that such right is
protected by the Constitution.
Deputy Saleh Armouti, who called for a
vote of no confidence in the government, told
Jordan News that out of 91
deputies that were present during Wednesday’s debate, 88 were against the
declaration, while only three were in favor of it. “There are surely a number
of local solutions to solve Jordan’s water crisis without having to rely on the
Zionist occupation,” Armouti said.
Jordan’s annual water needs now exceed 1
billion cubic meters with only 40 percent being made available through local
resources.
Minister of Water Mohammad Al-Najjar told the Lower House that
“idea” of the trilateral cooperation was first introduced five months ago and
was proposed as a result of the dire water scarcity in Jordan made even worse
by climate change.
At the end of the heated debate the Lower
House agreed to refer the matter to its Water and Agriculture Committee.
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