Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets on Friday to protest against the water-for-energy agreement between Jordan and Israel.
The protest held in downtown Amman called on the Jordanian government to scrap the deal with Israel and for disannulling the 1994 Wadi Araba peace treaty as well.
Last Tuesday Jordan Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a memorandum of understanding to implement a project entailing water in exchange for solar energy.
The MoU was signed by Jordanian Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Al Najjar UAE Climate Change and Environment Minister Mariam Al Mheiri and Israel’s outgoing Regional Cooperation Minister Esawi Frej on the sidelines of the UN climate change summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The deal aims to continue feasibility studies for a UAE-brokered deal signed a year ago to have Jordan provide solar energy to Israel and Tel Aviv channels desalinated water to Amman.
In November 2021 Jordan signed a declaration of intent for water-for-energy with Israel and the UAE. The agreement however was met with public anger in Jordan amid calls for protests against the deal.
