Lawmakers want clear ban on Israeli purchases in Petra

AMMAN — The Lower House on Tuesday passed a law prohibiting selling of land within the boundaries of the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA) to non-Jordanians.

MPs' decision to limit the sale and lease of immovable assets in Petra to Jordanians came after they approved a proposal by their colleagues Mahmoud Kharabsheh and Assaf Shoubaki through which their dispute over Article 5 of the PDTRA Law was resolved.

Under the two legislators’ proposal, only Jordanians can buy or lease land in Petra and this should be included in a by-law which should also specify Israelis as among those prohibited from buying assets in the district.

Earlier in January, the House referred the PDTRA Law to its administrative committee for more review following a dispute over the said article, which governs the issue of sale and lease of assets in the region.

The dispute began after some MPs raised concerns about the government's version of the law.

They perceived the bill as lacking guarantees to prohibit the selling of land within Petra to Israelis, especially since the issue was to be determined by a bylaw that would be later drafted and endorsed by the Cabinet without requiring lawmakers’ endorsement.  

Responding to MPs’ concerns at the time, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said that the government was keen on “not allowing even a square centimetre of Jordanian land to go to any [unwanted] party”.

Also on Tuesday, the House passed the Public Transportation Law, which was referred to the legislature in 2010.

Deliberating the law, MPs recommended that more incentives and exemptions be granted to investors and that the mandatory auto insurance system to be revisited, maintaining that such measures would have a positive impact on the public transportation sector.