(MENAFN- Alghad Newspaper) At a time when Israel's violations and its exercise of barbarism is increasing in the occupied Jerusalem and al-Aqsa, and when it violates Jordan's historical right in custody of the holy sites in occupied Jerusalem, and continue with its plans to Judaize al-Aqsa, we do not hear a single word from the government about the former announcing signing the Israeli gas import agreement.
The government forgets that the occupiers did not respect previous agreements that are more important than the gas, chiefly the Wadi Araba agreement and custody of the holy sites agreement, how will Israel commit to supplying Jordan with gas in the future, when the duration of the agreement with it is 15 years, during which we do not know what foul schemes the Israelis, who are increasingly controlled by extremism, will bring about.
The examples on the lack of respect by the occupier for the agreements are stark, and they must be a lesson for the government, which still justifies resourcing Israeli gas, hiding behind the idea that the agreement is with a US company, not an Israeli one.
After what happened in al-Aqsa and what will happen, it is no longer a purely financial position; it has to become political € who is to believe that Israel, which does not respect agreements, will adhere to the gas agreement, which connects Jordan's economy strategically with the enemy.
The gas agreement falls within the notion of economic normalization called for by Israeli politicians, who believe that linking their economic interests with neighboring countries will make said countries more pliable to them and their policies.
In refusing the Israeli gas, I will ignore concepts of enemy and occupier, and will discuss the government's rationale that there are no alternatives, since this argument breaks easily, especially considering that the Israeli gas will not be available today, but will need years, way until 2018, exactly like the rest of the options currently on the table; there's even an option for the government that is both faster and closer to implementation, that is the gas port that will be completed mid-next year, which provides a source of energy fit to provide for our complete energy needs, that is if it is implemented act according to the plan.
The government did not back down, and its argument is "national interest", and easing the treasury's financial costs, on the basis that Israel offered preferential rates to Jordan, which is the important point that the government uses to justify its move.
That is not accurate, in the sense that it is true that the price may be slightly lower than the international prices, but it is not preferential, where the available information suggests that the price ranges between 7-9 dollars per million cubic feet. Additionally, saying that 600 million dinars per year will be saved is not accurate as one cent of saving in the electricity price corresponds to 1.5 dollars of the price of gas.
The government argues that Israel provided the gas, at a time when there is a lack of other sources, and other countries disavowed of doing that, which also is not true, as the government agreement signed with Shell is enough for the full provision of Jordan's needs of liquefied gas, across global markets including Alexandria, Malaysia, and Sumatra.
The government displays the Israeli option as our salvation, and confirms that all the solutions are not sufficient to reject it, while there are other sources of energy available to protect us from resorting to this suicidal option. The most important source is the gas port, which is implemented by the current government - a dedicated LNG vessel has been provided € and it is closer to becoming a reality, despite the delay in some stages.
Also, another alternative that might be available at the same time as the Israeli gas, that is the oil shale power plants, as the percentage of available energy from this source, if planned by the government properly, is up to about 30% of Jordan's needs, estimated at 400 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Also, renewable energy as an option is capable of providing up to 10% of the entire energy needs of Jordan, in addition to increasing the production from the Risha field, through a small financial support to the National Petroleum Company.
After all of this, I do not know how to defend importing gas from Israel, and what do we do with all the previous alternatives, as the quantities of gas agreed with Israel covers most of our energy needs?
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