Israel plans to approve Red Sea-Dead Sea pipeline project with Jordan
Jordan and Israel will each pledge $40 million USD a year for 25 years, a total of $2 billion USD for the project, according to the report from Thursday.
By YVETTE J. DEANEUpdated: JANUARY 7, 2019 05:39A BREATHTAKING view of the Dead Sea and the Judean Desert can be seen while guided jeep tour with Te’ima Mehamidbar(photo credit: EYAL TAMIR)
Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel is expected to approve the Red Sea-Dead Sea Project with Jordan, according to a report in Bloomberg News.“This is important for regional cooperation,” Hanegbi said in a phone interview with Bloomberg News. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was convinced that peace has a price, and he agreed to it.”The Red Sea-Dead Sea Project, an idea conceived in the early 2000s, envisions a pipeline connecting the Red Sea port of Aqaba to an area by the south-eastern coast of the Dead Sea, both within Jordanian territory. The project will provide drinking water to parched Jordan; Palestinians will be able to buy desalinated water from the Jordanians.“This is the largest joint project in the Middle East between Israel and an Arab state,” Hanegbi said, according to the report. “Jordan has severe water issues and Israel wants to maintain Jordan’s stability. It’s the country with which we have our longest border.”Jordan and Israel are each pledging $40 million a year for 25 years for the $2 billion project, according to the report.Brine from the desalinization process will be poured into the Dead Sea, which has been receding at the rate of one meter annually.The project will also include the construction of a hydroelectric plant to provide power to both Israel and Jordan.According to the report, Hanegbi denied that the announcement is tied to the elections.Jordan did not respond to the report.The initiative has been delayed for years because of the political tensions between the two countries, specifically the 2017 killing of two Jordanians by an Israeli security guard at the Jewish State’s embassy in Amman.
