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ro Geostrategic Pulse, No 197, Saturday 5 September 2015

CONSIDERATION
The Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal
Corneliu PIVARIU
Israel and Jordan signed an agreement for the project “The Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal” at the beginning of
March 2015. The project was included in a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Israel, Jordan and the
Palestinian Authority on 9 December 2013 in Washington. The concept of this project is much older, having
appeared in the 19th century and in 1855 William Allen proposed for the first time a project Mediterranean
Sea-Dead Sea (in the volume “The Dead Sea – A New Route to India”). In mid-20th century, Israel analyzed
four variants of a canal towards the Dead Sea, three of them being from the Mediterranean and one form
the Red Sea.
The signed project includes the construction of a sea water desalinization plant with a capacity of 65-85
million cubic meters/year in Aqaba, Jordan. According to certain media sources, 35 million cubic meters
from this quantity will be bought by Israel. At the same time, Jordan will buy an additional volume of 50 mil-
lion cubic meters from the Israeli Lake Kinneret in order to deliver it in the north of the country. A pipe will
also be built to transport water from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Dead Sea. The overall cost of the project is
estimated at 5 billion dollars, the initial phase being estimated at approximately 800 million dollars. The Jor-
danian authorities (Ministry of Water and Irrigation – Jordan Valley Authority) have already announced an
open tender, closing date in 21 September, and with documents available on 23 July. Financially, the pro-
ject is supported by the French Development Agency and by the Treasury of France.
The main objectives of the project could be considered the following: provide the necessary drinkable wa-
ter for Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority; deliver sea water to the Dead Sea in order to increase its
level and avoid depletion; support Jordan’s economic development; generate electricity for the project’s
needs; develop cooperation between the participants in order to increase regional stability and create con-
ditions for the extension of the “Peace Valley Plan”.
There are high expectations from this project. Saad Abu Hammour, General Secretary of the Jordan Valley
Authority, said: ”it is the first peaceful regional project between the two countries after having signed the
peace treaty”. He underlined the contribution of this project to the enhancement of peace between the two
countries along with the economic and social benefices like solving the lack of drinkable water in the two
countries and saving the Dead Sea. Similar opinions were expressed by the Israeli minister as well, saying
that “it (the agreement to sign the project – our note) is the most important and significant agreement after
the peace treaty with Jordan. It is the peak of some very good cooperation relations between Israel and Jor-
dan…”
As it happens in the case of all major projects, there is also criticism to it, some coming from environmental
organizations. For example, the “Eco Peace: Friends of the Middle East”, a regional organization including
Jordanians, Israelis and Palestinians protested against bringing Red Sea water into the Dead Sea, indicat-
ing that the Dead Sea water has a unique chemical composition that will be changed by the Red Sea water.
The same organization opposes the deliveries of water from Lake Kinneret to Jordan, considering that the
water from this lake must be delivered directly into the Jordan river, since the flow of this river needs to be
increased. The Israeli colonists from several settlements in the region share the same opinion. The Egyp-
tians expressed their concerns as well, considering that the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal would increase the
seismic risk in the region (considering that geologic history that led to the creation of the Dead Sea). There
are also numerous voices warning against the danger of damaging the corals in the Gulf of Aqaba because
of the water pumps, the underground water basins and generally the ecosystems in the region of the canal
as well as the danger for the archeological relics.
If the project manages, with minimal changes in the environment, to reduce the serious problem of provid-
ing drinkable water to Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Israel, it will contribute to the salvation of the
Dead Sea (its level drops a meter every year and in the last 20 years its surface decreased by approxi-
mately 30%) and it will serve as catalyst for future cooperation between all the involved parties, thus being a
complete success. Any beginning must be surrounded by optimism, but also by professionalism. There is
the custom of cancelling and rescheduling tenders in the Arab world and it happens out of the most diverse
reasons. Hopefully, it will not be the case of this project and its success will contribute to the growth of re-
gional stability, being an example for the Middle East.

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