AMMAN, Jordan, May 16 (UPI) -- Jordan opposition groups denounced reported legal violations against Jordanian and Asian workers in industrial zones run jointly with Israel.
The opposition-led Executive Committee for Protecting the Nation and Combating Normalization of Relations with Israel said in a statement Tuesday the Qualified Industrial Zones -- or QIZ -- imposed by force economic normalization on Jordanian investors as well as workers and citizens.
The group said the creation of the QIZs also opened the way for Asian companies to make benefits at the expense of the Jordanian economy in view of the influx of thousands of Asian workers to Jordan, harming Jordanian labor market.
The products of factors in the QIZs in which Israeli capital is used, enter the U.S. markets without customs.
There are some 11 QIZs in Jordan set up under an agreement with Israel and the United States. The creation of these zones is an outcome of the 1994 peace treaty signed between Israel and Jordan.
The committee said the zones contributed to draining local resources and they are subsidized by the state's general budget in terms of water, electricity, fuel and energy in addition to depriving the state's treasury from the returns of income taxes from which the companies operating in the zones are exempted.
"The QIZs contributed to destroying the environment, and resulted in legal violations of the rights of Jordanian and foreign workers in terms of salaries and medical services," the committee added.
An estimated 55,000 workers are employed in the QIZs, including 35,000 foreigners, mostly from east Asian countries.
