JORDANIANS DENOUNCE GAS DEAL WITH ISRAEL

Amman, 29 Safar 1436/21 December 2014 (MINA) – Dozens of protesters marched in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Friday to denounce a gas deal with Israel that is expected to be passed by the end of the year.

Protesters held signs against the Israeli diplomatic mission in Jordan and against normalization with Israel during the rally, bearing messages such as:

“The gas of the enemy is occupation,” “The people of Jordan are not collaborators,” and various other messages calling for a revocation of the 1994 deal that normalized relations between Israel and Jordan after decades of hostility, Maan News Agency  quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Sunday.

The head of the youth office of the Jordanian Democratic Popular Unity Party, Fakher Da’as, said the march aimed to send a message to the parliament and the government in order to pressure them to take real steps against the agreement.

The march was called for by the youth offices of the six leftist and nationalistic parties in Jordan as well as the Ahrar al-Asima group.

Although the 1994 Wadi Araba agreement officially ended decades of conflict between Israel and Jordan, many Jordanians opposed and continued to oppose the agreement, which ended Jordanian claims of sovereignty to the West Bank.

Opposition has persisted particularly in light of Israel’s failure to follow through on the various peace accords it has signed with Palestinians, as well as the repeated and ongoing assaults and invasions it has carried out in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (T/P002/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)