Excerpts: Jordan-Israel gas deal. IS plans Subway attacks US,
Paris.Fateh-Hamas deal re Gaza September 27, 2014
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 27 ’14:”Israel gas deal will save Jordan JD700m
annually’
By Mohammad Ghazal
SUBJECT: Jordan-Israel gas deal|
EXCERPTS:AMMAN — The government said Thursday[25 Sept. the state-owned
National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) is expected to buy 250-300 million
cubic feet per day of natural gas from Noble Energy, which experts said will
save around JD700 million annually of the energy bill.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Mohammad Hamed said Thursday[25
that NEPCO is in talks with the American company Noble Energy to determine
the prices of gas it will buy from Israeli fields late 2017, expecting a
deal soon.
The quantities, experts said, will help slash Jordan’s energy bill that
exceeds JD4 billion a year and reduce the losses of NEPCO, which are
expected to reach JD1.3 billion by the end of 2014.
“We will receive large quantities of gas from Israel, Cyprus and the Gaza
Strip. The liquefied natural gas terminal, which will be ready early 2015,
will also boost our reserves of gas,” said the minister at a meeting held by
EDAMA Association under the title “The Alternatives of Resolving Gas
Shortages in Jordan”.
“All the large quantities of gas we will receive will not only be used for
power generation; we will encourage industries to use gas to increase their
competitiveness,” the minister said.
Early this month, NEPCO signed a letter of intent with Noble Energy, which
owns 39 per cent of the Leviathan natural gas field in Israel, to buy gas
over a period of 15 years and at a total cost of $15 billion. The purchase
agreement is expected to be signed in November.
Lawmakers at the EDAMA event warned against relying on Israeli gas,
stressing that Jordan should tap its local resources including renewable
energy and shale oil.
“There is always a conflict of interest with Israel. At a certain point,
they might stop giving us gas. Although we have a peace treaty with Israel
we remain at hostilities with the Zionist entity,”
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 27 Sept.’14:”Islamic State plans subway attacks in
US and Paris –Iraqi PM”, by Reuters
SUBJECT: IS plans Subway attacks US,Paris
FULL TEXT:NEW YORK — Iraq has received "credible" intelligence that Islamic
State militants plan to attack subway systems in Paris and the United
States, Iraq's prime minister said on Thursday[27 Sept.], but senior US
officials said they had no evidence to back up the claim.
Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said he had received the information
Thursday[27 Sept.] morning from militants captured in Iraq and concluded it
was credible after asking for further details. The attacks, he said, were
plotted from inside Iraq by "networks" of the Islamic State, also known as
ISIS or ISIL.
"They plan to have attacks in the metros of Paris and the US," Abadi told a
small group of US reporters while in New York for the annual meeting of the
UN General Assembly. "I asked for more credible information. I asked for
names. I asked for details, for cities, you know, dates. And from the
details I have received, yes, it looks credible."
National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the White House
had not confirmed any plan to attack the US and French subway systems. "We
have not confirmed such a plot, and would have to review any information
from our Iraqi partners before making further determinations," she said.
Two senior US security officials, contacted by Reuters following the
comments from Abadi, said the United States had no information to support
the threat.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said authorities had already begun to beef up
security at New York City's mass transit sites before Abadi's comments. The
New York City Police Department said it was aware of the prime minister's
warning and in close contact with the FBI and other agencies to assess the
threat.
There had been no credible threats made against Washington DC's rail and bus
system, Washington Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said in an e-mail.
The United States and France have both launched air strikes against Islamic
State targets in Iraq as part of a US-led campaign to "degrade and destroy"
the radical Sunni militant group, which has seized a third of both Iraq and
Syria.
Abadi disclosed the intelligence while making a case for Western and Arab
countries to join that campaign. "We want to increase the number of willing
countries who would support this," he said. "This is not military. This is
intelligence. This is security. The terrorists have a massive international
campaign. Don't underestimate it."
In the past, the United States had received threats that various militant
groups were targeting transportation systems but there is no recent
information about an imminent plan by Islamic State, one US official said,
speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Cuomo said the enhanced security in New York was part of a bi-state
initiative announced on Wednesday[26 Sept.] with New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie, in response to possible threats by Islamic State militants.
Abadi also said that Iraqi did not want to see foreign "boots on the
ground", but stressed the value of providing air cover for the country,
saying that the Iraqi air force did not have sufficient capability.
He said that Australia was "very interested" in participating, though he did
not provide details. He also voiced optimism about a planned British
parliament vote on Friday[26 Sept/] on the matter, saying "they reckon it
will be successful”.
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 27 Sept.’14:”Fateh-Hamas deal re Gaza"
SOURCE:Jordan Times 27 Sept.’14:”Fateh-Hamas agreement givesunity government
control over Gaza”, by Reuters
SUBJECT: Fateh-Hamas deal re Gaza
QUOTE:”A(Palestinian factions] unity government. . .could strengthen their
hand in talks with Israel next month”
FULL TEXT:CAIRO — A unity government is to take control of the Gaza Strip,
after a breakthrough in talks between Palestinian factions on Thursday[25
Sept. which could strengthen their hand in talks with Israel next month.
The Gaza ceasefire struck in August between Israel and the Palestinians
called for the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, to
take over civil administration in Gaza from the Islamist Hamas.
Officials from Hamas and Abbas' Fateh movement announced the deal on
Thursday[25 Sept.] in Cairo, where they had been meeting under the auspices
of Egypt's intelligence services.
Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007 after making sweeping election gains, amid
bitter rivalry between the Islamists and Fateh which erupted into violence.
The two sides have been deeply divided since.
The factions agreed to the make-up of a national unity government in May but
a dispute over the Palestinian Authority's non-payment of salaries to Gaza's
public sector workers later brought relations close to breaking point.
"All civil servants will be paid by the unity government because they are
all Palestinians and it is the government of all Palestinians," said Azzam
Ahmed of Fateh on Thursday[25 Sept.].
Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy chairman of Hamas' political bureau, said control
of Gaza's border crossings, another contentious issue, would be shared with
the United Nations.
"The United Nations will come to an agreement with Israel and the unity
government on how to run the crossings," he said.
The agreement states that 3,000 members of the security forces employed by
the Palestinian Authority will be merged into Gaza's security services and
tasked with running the territory's border crossings.
Marzouk said the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was not part of the deal.
Gaza reconstruction
Ahmed said the two factions had agreed on “eliminating all the obstacles
before the national unity government”.
He said a committee comprised of all Palestinian parties would be formed to
implement the agreement and resolve any further problems.
There was no initial comment on Thursday’s [25 Sept.]breakthrough from
Israel, which is celebrating a religious holiday.
Israel froze US-brokered peace talks with Abbas when the unity deal was
first announced in April and urged the world not to recognise the new
government. It regards Hamas, which refuses to recognise the Jewish state,
as a terrorist group.
Fifty days of conflict in Gaza between Hamas and Israel ended late last
month.
More than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed along with 67
Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel, after Israel launched an
offensive with the declared aim of halting cross-border rocket salvoes by
Hamas and other groups.
The conflict left wide areas of Gaza devastated. The Palestinian Authority
said in a study reconstruction work would cost $7.8 billion, two and a half
times Gaza’s gross domestic product.
International concerns about Hamas’ inclusion in the unity government could
undermine a donors’ conference intended to raise reconstruction funds for
Gaza, which Egypt is set to host on October 12.
Ahmed said on Thursday[25 Sept.] Palestinians would seek membership in UN
organisations including the international criminal court “to enable our
people to hold Israel accountable for the war crimes it has committed”.
===========
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA
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