Jordan welcomes water deal amid fears on refugee, climate crises

The National Water Carrier Project will produce roughly 300 million cubic meters of desalinated water annually in Aqaba. (AFP/File Photo)
The National Water Carrier Project will produce roughly 300 million cubic meters of desalinated water annually in Aqaba. (AFP/File Photo)
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Updated 02 January 2023

Jordan welcomes water deal amid fears on refugee, climate crises

Jordan welcomes water deal amid fears on refugee, climate crises

AMMAN: Jordan has signed a soft loan agreement with a European lender to help finance a mega $2.5 billion water-carrier project amid persistent shortages made worse by climate breakdown. 

The government agreed to the $213 million loan with the European Investment Bank, which will go towards a total $352 million state contribution to the National Water Carrier Project (Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Transport Project).

The EIB loan has coincided with reports that Israel was intending to supply desalinated water to the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan.

An Israeli radio station recently said that the country’s water authority and Mekorot company would begin pumping desalinated water from the Mediterranean Sea, alongside groundwater, to Lake Tiberias through a newly established pipeline.

The report quoted an official as saying that “Israel would be able to solve its water issues for the next 30 years, including providing Jordan, the West Bank, and Gaza with this resource.”

A Jordanian official said that the kingdom had “received nothing official from Israel on that.”

The source, who requested anonymity, said: “Israel usually pumps water into Jordan, under the peace deal, from Lake Tiberias and there is nothing special in that. But it would probably be the first time if Israel sends desalinated water from the Mediterranean.”

Described as the “largest infrastructure project” in Jordan’s history, the National Water Carrier Project will provide about 300 million cubic meters of desalinated water annually, conveyed from the port city of Aqaba on the Red Sea northward to the densely populated capital Amman and other cities.

Amman is described as one of the fastest growing cities in the world, with a rapidly increasing population due to refugee influx from crisis-hit neighboring countries.

According to official figures, the population of Amman has increased from 200,000 to four million over the past 50 years due to the refugee influx from Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria between 1948 to 2013.

The UNHCR says Jordan remains the second largest refugee host per capita worldwide with roughly 750,000 refugees of 57 different nationalities.

But official figures said that around 1.3 million Syrian refugees live in the resource-poor Jordan with the majority of them living outside the refugee camps.

The government has said that the “dramatic rise in the population growth rate and the impact of the refugee crisis has worsened Jordan’s water woes and placed it below the water poverty line.

According to official estimates, Jordan’s annual water resources were about 90 cubic meters per person, well below the international threshold of 500 cubic meters per person.

Jordan said that the National Water Carrier Project would be based on the “build-operate-transfer system, “and would be ready by 2027.

The project, according to the Ministry of Water, will consist of a seawater withdrawal system, desalination plant based on the southern shore of Aqaba, pumping stations and tanks, and a 450km pipeline.

Jordan is classified as the world’s second-most water-scarce country. The total population in Jordan was estimated at 11.1 million people in 2021 with a growth rate of 1.23 percent, according to official figures.

In October last year, Jordan announced that it had bought an additional 50 million cubic meters of water from Israel outside the framework of the 1994 peace agreement and what it stipulates in water quantities.

Under the 1994 Wadi Araba Peace Treaty, Israel is committed to providing Jordan with 55 million cubic meters of water a year.

In November last year, Jordan, Israel and the UAE signed a declaration of intent to begin deliberations over the feasibility of an energy-for-water project.

The Jordanian government, which faced criticism at home from the parliament, political parties and other civic forces for signing the deal, said that Jordan is to receive 200 million cubic meters of water annually under the project.

International media have reported that a massive solar-energy farm will be built in the Jordanian desert as part of a project to generate clean energy that would be sold to Israel in return for desalinated water.

The EIB loan fell within the European lender’s commitment during a donor conference in March this year, a government statement said, where a total of $1.83 billion was pledged in grants and loans.


Palestinian toddler shot by Israeli troops in West Bank dies of wounds

Palestinian toddler shot by Israeli troops in West Bank dies of wounds
Updated 58 min 9 sec ago

Palestinian toddler shot by Israeli troops in West Bank dies of wounds

Palestinian toddler shot by Israeli troops in West Bank dies of wounds
  • Mohammed Al-Tamimi was shot in the head near his village of Nebi Saleh
  • The Israeli military has opened an investigation into the incident

A 3-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank last week died of his wounds, Israeli hospital officials said Monday.
Mohammed Al-Tamimi was shot in the head last Thursday near his village of Nebi Saleh while riding in a car with his father. He was airlifted to Israel’s Sheba Hospital, which announced the boy’s death.
The Israeli military has said it opened fire after gunmen in the area shot at an Israeli guard post at a nearby Jewish settlement.
But the boy’s father, Haitham Al-Tamimi, told The Associated Press that he had just buckled up his son in the car and they were driving to visit an uncle when the bullet struck. The father was also shot and treated at a Palestinian hospital.
The Israeli military has opened an investigation into the incident.
Rights groups, however, say that such investigations rarely lead to prosecution or disciplinary action against soldiers.
The shooting was the latest bloodshed in a more than yearlong surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. That fighting has picked up since Israel’s new far-right government took office in late December.
Nearly 120 Palestinians have been killed in the two areas this year, with nearly half of them members of armed militant groups, according to an AP tally. The military says the number of militants is much higher. But stone-throwing youths and people uninvolved in violence have also been killed.
Meanwhile, Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis in those areas have killed at least 21 people.
Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem, along with the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek these territories for a future state.
Some 700,000 Israelis now live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Most of the international community considers these settlements illegal or obstacles to peace.


France seeks removal of Lebanese ambassador’s immunity after rape accusation

France seeks removal of Lebanese ambassador’s immunity after rape accusation
Updated 05 June 2023

France seeks removal of Lebanese ambassador’s immunity after rape accusation

France seeks removal of Lebanese ambassador’s immunity after rape accusation
  • Ambassador Rami Adwan is being investigated in France following complaints by two former embassy employees
  • Lebanon said it would send an investigation team to the embassy in Paris to question the ambassador

PARIS: French authorities will on Monday ask Lebanon to lift the immunity of Beirut’s ambassador to Paris after an investigation was opened into alleged rape and intentional violence by the envoy, a source said.
“Steps in this direction will be taken during the day,” a French diplomatic source, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
The ambassador, Rami Adwan, is being investigated in France following complaints by two former embassy employees. He has diplomatic immunity but could face trial if Lebanon agrees to France’s request.


Israel jails Palestinian for life over West Bank killing

Israel jails Palestinian for life over West Bank killing
Updated 05 June 2023

Israel jails Palestinian for life over West Bank killing

Israel jails Palestinian for life over West Bank killing
  • The Israeli military court sentenced Moath Hamed, 39, to two life sentences for the attack

Jerusalem: An Israeli court on Sunday sentenced a Palestinian to life in prison for the 2015 killing of an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank, the military said Monday.
The Israeli military court sentenced Moath Hamed, 39, to two life sentences for the attack, which he admitted to carrying out on behalf of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, the army said.
On June 29, 2015 Hamed fired at a vehicle, killing Malachi Rosenfeld, 25, who was returning from a basketball game near Shilo, an illegal settlement in the West Bank.
Three other Israelis were also injured in the attack.
In July 2015, Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency said it had arrested seven Palestinians in connection with the attack.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said Hamed had been arrested by Israeli forces in April 2022 after being “pursued by the occupation (Israel) for seven years.”
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967.
Cases involving events in the West Bank are tried by Israeli military tribunals.
Nearly three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, as do around 490,000 Israelis in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.


Sudan battle rages as Saudi Arabia, US urge new truce talks

Sudan battle rages as Saudi Arabia, US urge new truce talks
Updated 05 June 2023

Sudan battle rages as Saudi Arabia, US urge new truce talks

Sudan battle rages as Saudi Arabia, US urge new truce talks

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and the US on Sunday made a renewed push for truce talks between Sudan’s warring generals as deadly fighting raged into its eighth week.

Envoys of Sudan’s regular army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces or RSF have remained in Jeddah despite the earlier collapse of ceasefire talks, the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said.

The foreign mediators called for “the parties to agree to and effectively implement a new ceasefire, with the aim of building to a permanent cessation of hostilities,” it said.

Saudi Arabia and the US are keen to resume formal talks between the delegations, the ministry said.

Saudi Arabia and the US remain steadfast in their commitment to the people of Sudan, the statement added.

The Sudanese delegations in Jeddah continue to engage in daily negotiations, the ministry said.

“Those discussions are focused on facilitating humanitarian assistance and reaching agreement on near term steps the party must take before the Jeddah talks resume,” according to the statement.

It added: “Facilitators stand ready to resume formal talks and remind parties that they must implement their obligations under the May 11 Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to protect the civilians of Sudan.”

A five-day extension of a truce formally expired on Saturday with no signs of the conflict abating.

Upwards of 1,800 people have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, and the UN says 1.2 million have been displaced with more than 425,000 fleeing abroad.

The RSF on Sunday claimed it had shot down a fighter jet after the army “launched an audacious airborne assault upon our forces’ positions” in northern Khartoum.

A military source told AFP a Chinese-made jet crashed near Wadi Seidna base north of Khartoum because of a “technical malfunction.”

Witnesses said they saw an aircraft traveling from the south to the north of the capital with flames erupting from it.

Other witnesses spoke of airstrikes on RSF positions in the east of the city, with some civilian casualties reported.

Fighting in the capital has led to widespread damage and looting, a collapse in health services, power and water cuts, and dwindling food supplies.

Beyond the capital, deadly fighting has also broken out in the remote western region of Darfur, already grappling with long-running unrest and huge humanitarian challenges.


US, UK navies say they responded to distress call as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ‘harassed’ ship

US, UK navies say they responded to distress call as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ‘harassed’ ship
Updated 05 June 2023

US, UK navies say they responded to distress call as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ‘harassed’ ship

US, UK navies say they responded to distress call as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ‘harassed’ ship
  • The recent seizures have put new pressure on the US, long the security guarantor for Gulf Arab nations

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: The US Navy said Monday its sailors and the United Kingdom Royal Navy came to the aid of a ship in the crucial Strait of Hormuz after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard “harassed” it.
Three fast-attack Guard vessels with armed troops aboard approached the merchant ship at a close distance Sunday afternoon, the US Navy said in a statement. It offered black-and-white images it said came from a US Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon overhead, which showed three small ships close to the commercial ship.
The US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul and the Royal Navy’s frigate HMS Lancaster responded to the incident, with the Lancaster launching a helicopter.
“The situation deescalated approximately an hour later when the merchant vessel confirmed the fast-attack craft departed the scene,” the Navy said. “The merchant ship continued transiting the Strait of Hormuz without further incident.”
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf, sees 20 percent of the world’s oil pass through it.
While the Navy did not identify the vessel involved, ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic.com analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Venture erratically changed course as it traveled through the strait at the time of the incident. Its location also matched information about the incident given by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British military operation overseeing traffic in the region. The vessel also resembled the images released by the Navy.
The ship’s registered manager, Trust Bulkers of Athens, Greece, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iranian state media and the Revolutionary Guard did not immediately acknowledge the incident. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This latest incident comes after a series of maritime incidents involving Iran following the US unilaterally withdrawing from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.
The suspected American seizure of the Suez Rajan, a tanker linked to a US private equity firm believed to have been carrying sanctioned Iranian crude oil off Singapore, likely sparked Tehran to recently take the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Advantage Sweet. That ship carried Kuwaiti crude oil for energy firm Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California.
While authorities have not acknowledged the Suez Rajan’s seizure, the vessel is now off the coast of Galveston, Texas, according to ship-tracking data analyzed by the AP.
Meanwhile, Iran separately seized the Niovi, a Panama-flagged tanker, as it left a dry dock in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, bound for Fujairah on the UAE’s eastern coast. While not carrying any cargo, data from S&P Global Market Intelligence seen by the AP showed the Niovi in July 2020 received oil from a ship known then as the Oman Pride.
The US Treasury in August 2021 sanctioned the Oman Pride and others associated with the vessel over it being “involved in an international oil smuggling network” that supported the Quds Force, the expeditionary unit of the Guard that operates across the Mideast. Purported emails published online by Wikiran, a website that solicits leaked documents from the Islamic Republic, suggest that cargo carried by the Niovi was sold on to firms in China without permission.
Satellite images analyzed by the AP show those two vessels anchored off Bandar Abbas, Iran.
The recent seizures have put new pressure on the US, long the security guarantor for Gulf Arab nations. The United Arab Emirates claimed last week it earlier “withdrew its participation” from a joint naval command called the Combined Maritime Forces though the US Navy said it was still in the group. Meanwhile, the US military’s Central Command said Saturday its chief visited the region, met with Emirati leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and “discussed shared regional security concerns as well as US and UAE security partnerships.”
The Mideast-based commanders of the US, British and French navies last month also transited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday aboard an American warship, a sign of their unified approach to keep the crucial waterway open after Iran seized the two oil tankers.