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September 12, 1980 - Image 91

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1980-09-12

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

WE WISH OUR FRIENDS
AND RELATIVES A
HAPPY. HEALTHY

NEW YEAR

TOM and EVA ADELSON

turn

FIZIE 153V5

TO ALL OUR
FAMILY AND FRIENDS

THE CUTLERS'
Arthur, Frances & Lena

WE WISH OUR FRIENDS
AND RELATIVES A
HAPPY. HEALTHY

NEW YEAR

ABE and SUE
GERSHONOWICZ & JESSICA

Trans-Oceanic Canal: Herzl's
Dream Could Be Reality by 1990

By YITZHAK SHARGIL

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Gal-
loping oil prices, spurred by
the Arab countries and
others in the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC), have
made feasible the plan for a
canal from the Mediterra-
nean to the Dead Sea
envisioned by Theodor
Herzl in his classic "Altneu-
land."
The $700 million plan ap-
proved by the Cabinet is not
as grandiose as that pro-
posed by Herzl. It calls for a

THE BOOKSTEINS
Marvin, Gloria, Peggy & Lori

Wishes Their Family and Friends

A Happy & Healthy
New Year

MR. and MRS. NORMAN COTTLER
THE COHENS' and THE KOTLYARS'

wish all their family and
friends a year filled with
health, happiness, joy
and peace

EVELYN and JACK MUNSON

wish all their family and
friends a year filled with
health, happiness, joy
and peace

LILLIAN and HARRY PAULL

wish all their family and
friends a year filled with
health, happiness, joy
and peace

Wishing all our friends
and relatives a happy and
healthy New Year

hydroelectric plant to be
powered by the waterfall
that would be created by the
difference in the level of the
Mediterranean coast and
the Dead Sea area. But
Herzl also saw the canal as a
ship route to the Red Sea.
In fact, Laurance
Oliphant, the British non-
Jew who promoted Jewish
immigration after a visit to
Palestine in 1879 and who
himself later settled in
Haifa, proposed such a
canal as an alternate to the
Suez Canal.
Herzl's proposal was
an adoption of a plan
proposed earlier by Max
Brochard, a Swiss
engineer who later con-
verted to Judaism. Al-
though international
politics rather than sci-
ence prevented de-
velopment of the plan,
the canal has continued
to be proposed over the
years. In the 1950s, Prof.
Walter Laudermilk, the
American land conserva-
tion expert, suggested
building the canal.
Israeli scientists also pro-
posed the canal. But all pro-
posals were rejected be-
cause the cost was prohibi-
tive. The price of oil was so
cheap that the savings from
a hydroelectric plant would
not justify the cost of the
canal. But now the situation
has changed.
In 1977, Prof. Yuval
Ne'eman, a noted physicist
who formerly was president
of Tel Aviv University, was
named head of a committee
to consider several routes
proposed for a canal.
One plan proposed by
Shlomo Gur, an engineer,
and adopted by the late
Yigal Allon, called for a
route from Haifa to Beisan
and then to the Dead Sea
with an open canal along
the Yisreal Valley. This
plan would have helped im-
plement the Allon Plan for
Israeli security settlements
in the Jordan Valley and
was considered to be the
least expensive route. But it
was rejected because it
would take too much land
away from the fertile
Yisreal Valley and would
endanger Israel's limited
water supply with salt
water from the Mediterra-
nean.
Three southern routes
were proposed. One from
just south of Tel Aviv
through Beit Shemesh to
the northern Dead Sea
area was also rejected for
fear of polluting drinking
water. A second plan,
running from Zikkim
near Ashdod to Arad and
the Dead Sea near
Masada, was also re-
jected.
The plan which was ap-
proved runs from Khan
Yunis in the Gaza Strip to
Arad and Masada and then
to the Dead Sea. It is 62
miles long, about six miles
longer than the other route
to Masada.
Ne'eman, who is also
head of the ultranationalist
Tehiya faction, told the

Cabinet that the route cho-
sen was selected because it
would have many byp-
roducts in addition to the
hydroelectric plant. He said
the canal will provide spe-
cial cooling lakes for the
proposed nuclear power
plant to be built in the
Negev, there will be areas
for sailing and fishing, and
special pools could provide
solar energy for the various
factories along the canal,
especially the Dead Sea's
Potash Works. The power
plant to be built would pro-
vide 10 percent of Israel's
electricity by the 1990s.
Israel is expected to sound
out Jordan before going
ahead with the work but it
will not ask for Jordan's ap-
proval, it was stressed. Gur,
the engineer whose north-
ern route was rejected, has
charged that the proposed
canal route would raise the
level of the Dead Sea so
much that it would flood a
plant on the Jordanian side
of the sea. Ne'eman de-
scribed this view as "non-
sense" and said the canal
would not cause the sea to
go up that high. He said the
Jordanians would benefit
from the increased water
level of the Dead Sea.
The canal would take
three years to design and
twice that long to build.
However, Haaretz has re-
ported that Alvin Rosen-
berg, a Toronto lawyer, has
organized a consortium of
Jewish and non-Jewish in-
vestors from Canada, the
United States, Britain and
Israel, who are ready to in-
vest in the project if they are
given the concession to op-
erate the hydroelectric
plant. Rosenberg told the
newspaper that the group
was not only motivated by
support for Israel but was
convinced that the project is
economically feasible.

Friday, September 12, 1980 91t

THE RADOMER AID SOCIETY

Wish All .Their Members and Friends
A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year

Nate Wolok, pres.
Helen Greenberg, 2nd vice-pres.

Rita Ager, 1st vice pres.

-

aiuziums_itizasisus.

44111111111 ■

SHIRLEY and EDDIE ROSENBERG

wish all their family and
friends a year filled with
health, happiness, joy
and peace

HARRY and ESTELLE WEINGARDEN

wish all their family and
friends a year filled with
health, happiness, joy
and peace

Wishing all our friends
and relatives a happy and
healthy New Year

RUTH and MAX SOSIN

4411111111 ■

.4111111111 ■

Milt Gorelick, Moe Caplan
and the Staff of
is 9 Mile & Coolidge

Service Center

(corner 9 Mile and Coolidge)

Wish All Their Friends & Customers

A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous

4

1111111111110- ■ 4111111110.

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