Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 06 October 2016: Continued protests in Jordan against Israeli gas deal

Jordan saw a continuation of over week-long protests against a recently announced gas deal with Israel. A demonstration took place in Amman on 30^th September and gathered about 2,000 participants, and since then several smaller acts of protests have taken place in the country. Opponents of the deal claims that it represents a threat to Jordan’s sovereignty, whereas the government argues that it is merely an economic agreement that is necessary given current energy supply problems.

The size of the protests is quite large for Jordan, with the 30^th September demonstration being the largest since the events of the Arab Spring in 2011-2013. They are organised by the National Committee for Overturning the Gas Deal with the Zionist Entity, which has been founded in 2014 and consists of several political parties, trade unions and student groups. A Jordan branch of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement plays an important role in the protests. A voluntary, mass blackout is planned for Sunday.

Jordan lacks significant energy resources and is forced to import them from neighbouring countries. Egypt had begun to supply Jordan with natural gas, satisfying most of its demand, but increased domestic consumption and regular bombings targeting Sinai gas pipelines since 2011 have crippled this supply line. This has forced a switch to oil products to generate electricity, which is not profitable and has hurt Jordan’s balance of payments and budget, as energy imports accounted for over 40% of all budgetary expenditures in 2014.

The discovery of two offshore gas fields – Tamar and Leviathan – in 2009 and 2010 – in Israel’s exclusive economic zone on the Mediterranean Sea enabled Jordan to start diversifying imports. 2014 saw the signing of a deal on small-scale imports from the Tamar field and a letter of intent on larger supplies from the Leviathan field. September’s deal with Israel would satisfy all of Jordan energy import needs and would save $600 million, according to the government.

Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 – the second Arab country to do so after Egypt’s peace – but relations remain distinctly cool on societal level due to the failure of the peace process. It is estimated that 50-70% of Jordanians are of Palestinian origins, which severely limits government’s freedom of manoeuvre in its policies towards Israel.