Since Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994;; there has been growing tension between the Jordanian government and the independent press;; particularly the kingdom's small-circulation weekly newspapers. Journalists and editors have been arrested;; detained and prosecuted for violations of both the penal code and provisions of the press and publications law of 1993. By the count of one Jordanian weekly newspaper;; since the law went into effect sixty-two cases have been brought against journalists and editors;; the overwhelming majority of them with weekly newspapers. Faced with public opposition to normalization of relations with Israel;; frustration about the implementation of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority;; and popular discontent with the state of the economy and high rates of unemployment and underemployment;; Jordanian authorities have clearly signaled a growing discomfort with the exercise of freedom of expression by both individual critics and the press.