Wednesday, 26 February 2014 Militants blew up a pipeline in Sinai late Tuesday that transports gas to Jordan, security officials said, in the fourth such attack this year in the restive peninsula. The rebels planted explosives under the pipeline south of the city of Al-Arish in an area called Lehfen, they said, according to Agence […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Feb 25, 2014 HRH Prince Hassan addresses participants at the Water in the Arab World: Status, Challenges and Opportunities Conference on Tuesday (Petra photo) AMMAN — Increasing sustained investment in water infrastructure is crucial, HRH Prince Hassan said on Tuesday, calling on Arab states to establish a fund to protect the […]

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GAZA CITY (AFP) — On the roof of Gaza City’s children’s hospital, a pristine row of solar panels gleams in the sunlight, an out-of-place symbol of modern, clean energy in the impoverished Strip. As the coastal Palestinian territory lives through the worst fuel shortage in its history, many of Gaza’s 1.6 million inhabitants are beginning […]

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Feb 24, 2014 | 23:06 7 inShare1 Jordan has 128 olive presses spread across the country, according to a study prepared by the USAID-funded Jordan Institutional Support and Strengthening Programme (JT file photo) AMMAN — Although Jordan ranks as the eighth largest olive oil producing country in the world, it still lacks proper facilities for […]

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February 26, 2014 12:23 AM By Joacim Nielsen BEIRUT: Two new power plants expected to boost the country’s troubled energy sector will be completed within a few months, according to Danish constructor BWSC, which is building the facilities in Jiyyeh and Zouk just outside of Beirut. “Everything is running as planned. Both concerning time, budget […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 02/18/2014 The Energy, Water and National Infrastructures Ministry wants to promote holistic approach to urban planning. The smart city of the future must supply all of the needs of its population, rather than focusing simply on niche areas of expertise, stressed an Energy and Water Ministry official at a Tuesday conference. “There […]

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February 21, 2014 12:13 AM By Noeleen Heyzer By the end of this century, 10 billion people will inhabit our planet, with 8.5 billion living in cities. This could be the stuff of nightmares. But, with sufficient political will, vision and creativity – along with some simple, practical policy changes – we may be able […]

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Water Affairs Court rules that lack of access threatens both the herd owner’s livelihood and the animals themselves. The Water Authority and Agriculture Ministry must allow a sheep farmer in an unrecognized Bedouin village to extend his water connection to the herd’s paddock, giving the animals easy access to water, the Water Affairs Court in […]

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February 20, 2014 12:05 AM By Ali Akbar Dareini OROUMIEH, Iran: The first Cabinet decision made under Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, wasn’t about how to resolve his country’s nuclear dispute with world powers. It was about how to keep the nation’s largest lake from disappearing. Lake Oroumieh, one of the biggest saltwater lakes on […]

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February 22, 2014 By Asit K. Biswas, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe During its recent gathering in Davos, the World Economic Forum released its ninth annual Global Risks report, which relies on a survey of more than 700 business leaders, government officials, and nonprofit actors to identify the world’s most serious risks in the next decade. Most remarkable, […]

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by JOEL H. GOLOVENSKY 02/18/2014 Contrary to what Schulz was advised by his friend in Ramallah, Israeli and Palestinians per capita consume equal volumes of fresh water. When European Parliament President Martin Schulz manages to check the facts on water allocation on the West Bank, he will find that Israel has more than fulfilled its […]

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Unlike you, and most Israelis, water is not something I take for granted. It is a daily existential struggle. By Nasser Nawajah | Feb. 18, 2014 Dear Minister Bennett: My name is Nasser Nawajah. Although we have never met, I am sure that you have visited very close to my home. My neighbors from the […]

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Water discrimination is another tool being used to wear down the Palestinians socially and politically. By Amira Hass | Feb. 18, 2014 Why is the Israeli establishment so bent on denying the existence of water discrimination? Because this time the Israeli establishment cannot wrap it in the usual security excuses it resorts to with other […]

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Israel has adopted a drip-feed approach to providing the Palestinians with water instead of letting them control their own natural resource. By Amira Hass | Feb. 16, 2014 Rino Tzror is an interviewer who argues with rather than flatters his subjects. Yet last Thursday, he didn’t do his homework and let Justice Minister Tzipi Livni […]

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MA’AN BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Two Jordanian companies have entered into a major deal to import natural gas from Israel, according to Reuters news agency. US-based company Noble Energy has reached an agreement with Jordanian Arab Potash Co Plc and Jordan Bromine to important natural gas from Israel for a period of 15 years beginning in […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 02/19/2014 Australian drilling giant Woodside Energy signed deal with Leviathan gas partners to acquire 25 percent of basin for roughly $2.71 billion. Exports from the Leviathan reservoir will likely occur through an offshore, floating liquefied natural gas platform rather than via onshore options previously considered, the prospective Australian partners announced on Wednesday. […]

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February 13, 2014 The Daily Star BEIRUT: Lebanon’s net proceeds from gas extraction could easily exceed $600 billion, which is more than enough to contain public debt and stimulate the economy, Bank Audi said. “Based on the current gas and oil prices and on the basis of Lebanon’s 96 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves […]

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February 19, 2014 By Ola Galal Bloomberg CAIRO: Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, is poised to get its first cargo of imported liquefied natural gas before summer to help meet rising demand as local production slumps, Oil Minister Sherif Ismail said. State-run Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. is in the “final stage” of […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Feb 19, 2014 AMMAN — Badia residents and activists are planning to organise a march on Friday to express their rejection of the nuclear programme, activists said on Wednesday. The march, which will be organised by the national anti-nuclear committee, will kick off from Al Husseini Mosque in downtown Amman to […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 02/17/2014 Tractors have broken ground and financial agreements have closed on East Africa’s first utility- scale solar field, an 8.5-megawatt oasis being built under the leadership of Jerusalem-based entrepreneurs. “Today we’re realizing what everyone said would be impossible – creating a viable, commercial- scale solar industry for East Africa,” said Yosef Abramowitz, […]

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