Jordanian trade unions protest Israeli gas imports

Members of Jordanian trade unions on Wednesday organized a sit-in demonstration in Jordan's northern Irbid province to protest plans to import natural gas from Israel.

Jordan has recently begun implementing a 2016 purchase agreement with Israel, under which it plans to import vast amounts of natural gas from Israel's offshore Leviathan gas field.

Held near Irbid's Jordan University of Science and Technology, the sit-in was endorsed by 15 different Jordanian trade unions.

Protesters erected a tent near the pipelines that will be used to import the Israeli gas.

"We oppose normalization [with Israel]. We don't want this agreement, which only benefits the enemy," Ali al-Abous, the head of Jordan's Trade Union Federation, told participants at the event.

Some demonstrators raised banners, which read: "Supporting Zionist terrorism with taxpayers' money is a crime and disgrace."

In late 2016, U.S. petroleum firm Noble Energy, which operates Israel's Leviathan gas field, signed a deal with Jordan's National Electric Power Company for the sale of three billion cubic meters of gas over a 15-year period.

The deal was met with widespread popular disapproval in Jordan, sparking several protests in capital Amman against the agreement.