Israeli minister admits pollution of Jordanian areas

Former director general of the Israeli Environment Ministry Nujama Ronin has asserted that sewage waters in Israel which reaches Eilat district caused pollution in vast areas of Jordan. She added that these sewage waters also polluted the groundwater in areas surrounding the Jordanian city of al-Aqaba.

Israeli Army Radio quoted Ronin as saying that this matter caused deterioration in Israeli-Jordanian relations and that she had informed the Israeli prime minister about this matter, but no practical steps were taken to prevent this pollution.

During the summer of 1998, Amman witnessed dangerous pollution resulting from the Israeli sewage waters which provided for Amman.

News reports said that Jordanian health authorities and the parliament asked for halting the flow of polluted Israeli waters to the capital, Amman, and that the number of people among Arabs and foreigners who were affected by the pollution reached thousands.