AMMAN — Jordan’s Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement
(
Jordan BDS) called upon Jordanians to participate in a campaign called “cut
the power”, protesting against the gas treaty signed between Jordan and Israel.
اضافة اعلان
This “peaceful form of protest” will be held next Saturday,
June 5, from 10–11pm, and aims to “apply pressure on the government.” It will
cost the government and the National Electricity Power Company (
NEPCO) around
JD300,000 in estimated losses.
Former MP Deema Tahboub told Jordan News that “Participating
in this campaign is a great step to form pressure on the government. Perhaps
they would stop buying gas stolen from the Palestinian Territories.
“In the absence of effective action by the government, the
Cabinet, and Parliament, people have to step in and show the world that this
deal does not represent the honorable Jordanian citizens,” she added.
“We have two Jordanian citizens detained (in Israeli jail)
cells, and a young man, Raed Zeeter, who was allegedly shot by” Israeli
occupation forces, Tahboub said, adding that “Jordan is slowly losing the
strategic and valuable position that we spent decades trying to claim.”
She also mentioned that the government had the opportunity
to repeal the deal via a “force majeure” clause in the treaty, which would
allow either party to cancel the contract without penalty in the event of any
circumstances beyond their control.
“The government could have cancelled the treaty when
COVID-19 first hit the Kingdom, taking into consideration that these $10
billion could have helped our destroyed economy after and during the pandemic,”
Tahboub said.
The former lawmaker continued, “In addition, some of the
occupation’s gas supply stations were destroyed in the recent war, which must
have lowered the amount of gas we have been receiving over the past month —
another fair and just motive to break the deal.”
Tahboub also pointed out that NEPCO highly benefits from the
gas treaty, but is “somehow still $5.5 billion in debt”, and according to the
Jordanian power companies law, NEPCO should have been liquidated a long time
ago, since it is heavily indebted.
Hala Ahed, an activist and member of Jordan BDS, told Jordan
News that “This campaign is a part of several national campaigns that the
Jordanian society has been implementing since 2014, to express our rejection of
signing the gas treaty.
“The gas deal threatens Jordan’s sovereignty and its energy
security. Our only source of energy is in the hands of the occupation. Instead of
spending $10 billion to support Israel, we could have invested in local
companies to produce and export our own gas,” Ahed added.
According to studies conducted by Jordan BDS and several
other institutions, 54 percent of the gas deal money goes straight into
Israel’s treasury.
“The purpose of our campaign is not to harm NEPCO, because
after all, it’s considered a national company. We just want to give people who
cannot join us at Rabieh the opportunity to protest from home,” she said.
Rasha Zakareya, a social media user, told Jordan News that
“I encourage all people to participate in the campaign, as a symbolic move to
reject the normalization of dealing with Israel, although we’re forced to do
so.”
Ahmad Abaza, another social media user, told Jordan News
that he will definitely participate in the campaign on Saturday, as he believes
that cancelling the treaty would “liberate Jordan from unnecessary
international pressure to maintain the existence of Israel in the Middle East.”
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