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Israel Continues Pumping Water to Jordan: Official
A senior Jordanian official on Monday dismissed as groundless press reports that Israel has stopped providing water to Jordan during the current summer season, playing down a potential water crisis between the two countries.
The official, with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, said on condition of anonymity that the Jewish state is "currently pumping water to King Abdullah Canal (in Jordan) from Tiberias Lake according to the time schedule agreed upon ... and through the Joint Water Committee that holds its meetings regularly."
Local newspapers on Monday quoted reports from Israel as saying that Israel has suspended water supplies to Jordan due to a chronic drought in the region and the expiration of a three-year bilateral water agreement at the end of 1999.
Jordan takes water clauses as the most important and indispensible part of its 1994 peace treaty with Israel, and its officials has vowed to scrap the whole peace treaty if Israel did not implement bilateral water agreements to the letter.
Under various bilateral water arrangements, Jordan allows Israel to pump more water in winter from the Yarmouk River, save the water in the Tiberias lake before pumping some 25 to 30 million cubic meters of water back to Jordan during the summer time.
The capital city Amman and the western and northern parts of Jordan, the most populous areas of the kingdom, are under the influence of the Mediterranean Sea, hot and dry in summer, rainy and humid in winter.
For years, Jordan has been a major peace broker between Israel and its Arab neighbors in the fragile peace process in the region.
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