Egypt-Jordan's Gas Relationship

The new-old Egyptian situation from Jordan is strange. Perhaps not so strange if we go back in time and examine Egypt and Jordan’s relationship over 60 years of military regime between 1952 and 2011. Those years saw the reign of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat leading to Hosni Mubarak. What we see today is closer to the continuity of that military regime but with different faces. These faces favour the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood over everything else... especially the interests of Egypt and its people. There were hopes to improve the relationship of Arabs with one another, particularly between Cairo and Amman after January 25 Revolution. But these hopes have not amounted to much. The new government tended to pressure Jordan by not committing to a clear agreement between both sides that guaranteed a certain percentage of gas for more than double previous price set. After the revolution, Cairo demanded a new deal based primarily on the international prices of gas. Jordan met the Egyptian demand in a time where the gas pipelines in Sinai were subject to multiple explosions. With the new agreement, Egypt raised the price from two dollars and 15 cents to five dollars for each million BTU... but the requirement was still not met to this day. At the end Jordan had only 16% of the required quantity of gas. Egypt would complain about the explosions at times and the increase in local demand on gas in other times. All this stalling but the Egyptian gas flows normally to Israel. It is clear that the gas is used as a political card to pressure Jordan increasing the depth of its economic crisis. Jordan needed 100 thousand barrels of oil daily, now it uses about 170 thousand barrels. That’s because they needed to activate electricity labs formerly operated using Egyptian gas. This brought about two billion dollars by the Jordanian government, adding the subsidised prices of electricity and fuel. Those residents include more than one million Egyptians who benefit like any other Jordanian citizen from any government subsidies in any sector. Who would benefit from increasing the economic crisis in Jordan? Is there any other reason for the unjustified Egyptian pressures except to prove that the Muslim Brotherhood are the rulers  of Egypt and that the Egyptian Brotherhood has the duty to provide all sorts of support to the Brotherhood in Jordan, even if that comes on the expense of the Jordanian people and the Egyptians in Jordan? Finally the Jordanian media began to discuss the Egyptian gas issue after the Jordanian government had enough and after it beared larger burdens that it can take. At the beginning of the military ruling, at the time of Nasser, the pressures on Jordan were political and eventually led to the 1967 war. Egypt involved Jordan in an already lost war after Nasser bid on King Hussein, may God have mercy on him, and interfere in the internal issues of Jordan. Nasser even went so far that he accused the late king of treason and personal offensive criticism. The late Egyptian leader realised what he did only after dragging the Arabs to an aweful defeat. After the war and after reading the act of regret, Nasser promised king Hussein that he will not accept the return of Sinai before taking back the West Bank and Jerusalem. But his death in 1970 prevented him from fulfilling his promise. Sadat denied the promise made by Nasser, and took back Sinai with the gas, oil and Sharm el-Sheikh while the West Bank remained occupied! Hosni Mubarak instead was mostly interested in cutting the road in front of any Jordanian role on the regional level, despite adopting a very rational external policy sometimes. The former Egyptian president who was overthrown by the January 25 Revolution was very sensitive towards Jordan, and was acting in a way that make him seem the reference to Jordan, despite the main role played by King Hussein to bring Egypt back to the Arab ranks since 1985. In light of the gas crisis with Jordan, there lies a question: Is Egypt a state or a religious party that puts its interests and commitments about the interests of Egypt and its people? -- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.