OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Jordan and Israel on Tuesday signed a deal to double the amount of water Israel provides to Jordan.
The two countries announced in July that Israel would sell 50 million cubic meters of water a year to Jordan, doubling what it already supplies according to the terms of a peace deal from the 1990s.
اضافة اعلان
A source from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation told AFP that the two sides inked the agreement for Jordan to “purchase additional quantities of water ... outside the framework of the peace agreement.”
The deal signed Tuesday allows Jordan to buy additional water at 65 cents per cubic meter for one year, with an option to buy the same amount for a further two years but at a slightly higher price.
“It’s the realistic price, this is the cost of the water,” Israel’s water ministry spokesperson said.
Israel’s minister of infrastructure, energy, and water traveled to Jordan for a signing ceremony between representatives of the Joint Water Committee that manages bilateral relations in the sector.
Gidon Bromberg, Israel director of
EcoPeace Middle East, said the deal “represents the largest water sale in the history of the two countries.”
It “reflects the growing understanding that the climate crisis already heavily impacting the region must lead to increased cooperation,” he said.
“It’s the realistic price, this is the cost of the water,” Israel’s water ministry spokesperson said.
“Jordan ... is now the second-most water insecure country in the world, by some measures,”
The Century Foundation, a US think tank, wrote in a December report.
“Water needs are expected to exceed resources by more than 26 percent by 2025.”
The agreement with Jordan will not address Palestinian access to water, the spokesperson said.
In the West Bank, Israel controls underground water and distributes it unfairly, according to
Human Rights Watch (HRW).
“Israel’s discriminatory water policies in the West Bank enable settlers to enjoy bountiful water, while some Palestinian communities lack sufficient water to provide for their basic needs,” the group wrote in an April report accusing Israel of crimes of “apartheid”.
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