Opinion
OTHER VIEWS
Saving The Dead Sea
Gidon Bromberg
Special Commentary
Tel Aviv/JTA
E
nvironmentalists in Israel and the
Middle East have a dear vision
on how to save the Dead Sea,
which has been losing 850 million cubic
meters per year thanks to water diversion
upstream and mineral extraction at the sea.
This vision sees fresh water flowing again
into the Dead Sea from the Jordan River,
arresting the sea's declining water levels. It
envisions Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian
communities that live along the Jordan
River benefiting collectively from a revital-
ized economy based on shared water and
sustainable tourism, including Christian
pilgrimages to holy sites on the rehabili-
tated river.
This vision, however, could not be more
different from that of the World Bank,
Israeli President Shimon Peres or Israeli bil-
lionaire Yitzhak Tshuva.
Their solution is to build a canal from
the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, which they
say also will counter water scarcity in the
region and bolster peace ties. Along the
route of the canal, in the Arava Valley, Peres
and Tshuva have proposed building artifi-
cial lakes, casinos, Dubai-style skyscrapers
and 200,000 hotel rooms.
Ignoring the environmental impact of
their plan is a grave mistake.
The Red-to-Dead canal plan places the
fragile coral reefs of the Jordanian city of
Aqaba and the Israeli city of Eilat at risk.
Pumping 2 billion cubic meters of water out
of the Red Sea could alter water tempera-
tures in the Red Sea Gulf.
Transporting seawater
in a pipeline or open
canal through the Arava
Valley, an area where
earthquakes regularly
occur, likely would lead
to spills and the salini-
zation of groundwater.
And the development
ideas Peres and Tshuva
harbor for the route of
the canal would trans-
form the unique desert
landscape of the rift
valley in the Arava into
a Las Vegas-type strip
mall.
The canal plan jeop-
ardizes the Dead Sea as well. Scientists are
now vocal in their concerns that mixing sea
water with the unique minerals of the Dead
Sea could lead to the growth of algae and
turn the Dead Sea's waters from deep blue to
reddish brown.
Jordan River Upgrade
By contrast, rehabilitating the Jordan River
would strengthen existing but all-but-for-
gotten Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian
communities in the Jordan Valley by bring-
ing an influx of tourists and investment to
the struggling region. New infrastructure
would have to be built to accommodate the
tourists, helping revital-
ize a region that is home
to 350,000 people.
Rehabilitating the
river would not require
restoring its historical
flow of 1.3 billion cubic
meters per year. We
can make do with just
a quarter of that, 350
million.
To do so, however, we
have to stop drawing
so much water out of
the Jordan's tributar-
ies, including Lake
Kinneret.
How? Studies show
that Israel could reduce domestic water
consumption by 30 percent by promoting
a combination of policy directives, from
education for water conservation to pricing
reforms. Rainwater harvesting, waterless
toilets and low-water-use appliances need
to be supported by legislation and grants.
Israel has to stop
drawing so much
water out of the
Jordan River's
tributaries. Other
means are available
for water supplies.
Domestic water measures would save some
200 million cubic meters of water per year
The balance would have to come from
reforms in the agriculture sector, which
consumes about 500 million cubic meters
of fresh water per year. Water authorities
and environmentalists already agree that
Israeli agriculture should be based solely
on recycling treated sewage water. But while
the water authorities want the savings to go
toward satisfying increased urban demand
for water, environmentalists want to see the
saved water returned to nature, including
the Jordan River.
The vision of Friends of the Earth
Middle East is to decouple population and
economic growth from increased fresh-
water demand. Our region, not Europe,
should be the model for ingenuity in water
conservation.
Stable Dead Sea
As for the Dead Sea, we believe the sea's
water level should be stabilized, not
restored to its historical levels, last seen
around 1930. Some 850 million cubic
meters of water would be needed per year
for stabilization.
If the aforementioned water reforms
are applied in Israel and Jordan, a revived
Jordan River could supply 500 million
cubic meters of that, solving 60 percent
of the problem. The 350 million bal-
One Step At A Time
Afula, Israel
I
want to share a story with you. I do
this to show you certain realities of our
everyday lives in Israel that you would
otherwise not be aware of. I also do this so
that you will not lose hope — even in the
face of atrocities, existential dangers and
blatant evil behavior. One step at a time is
how we will get from here to there.
Israel is not the easiest place to live and
maintain one's optimism. Fortunately, I
represent an institution that re-energizes
me every day and allows me the privilege
to observe, at eye-level, people-making
an effort to get along with one another
— despite the maelstrom of hate swirling
around us.
Political hatred between Jews and Arabs
runs very deep and ultimate reconciliation
will need to come from an equally deep
place from within us all. To reach that place
is a painstakingly slow process that requires
awareness and the willingness to focus on
something positive. There are negative, evil
A34
August 14 • 2008
i4
forces continually grabbing at the ankles of
The two young women came to us via
anyone trying to move ahead in a concilia-
Shlomit, Israel's largest national service
tory manner. Without forward momentum,
organization serving the Muslim, Christian,
we will be doomed to repeat history's most
Bedouin, Druze and Jewish populations that
deadly errors and remain stuck
assists 2,500 young people annu-
where we are.
ally to serve and benefit from
I just met two young women
national service. The majority
who fit within the complex
of young Arabs choose not to
incomplete jigsaw puzzle that is
become part of this network,
Israel. They are Suha Rahmoun, a
due to complex social, religious,
19-year-old Christian Arab from
nationalistic or other reasons,
upper Nazareth and Rozan Haja,
thus limiting their inclusion into
a 19-year-old Muslim from lower
mainstream Israel. That is why
Nazareth. They both have chosen
I am sharing the story of Suha
to perform national service as
and Rozan with you.
Larr y Rich
volunteers within our hospital.
They learned about national
Spe cial
National service is offered to
service
from their family and
Comm entary
those young citizens who do
friends and, to the dismay of
not serve in the Israel Defense
their peers, decided to join.
Forces for one reason or another.
Initially, the girls were chal-
Completion of one or two years' service is
lenged by their circle of friends as to why
rewarded by proportionate monetary grants they joined, but their determination to con-
like those offered to soldiers who complete
tinue won the day.
their military service. Participants also earn
Rozan explained, "Some of my friends
a modest salary during their work period.
stayed away from me, while others remained
close. I believe in what I'm doing, and it
gives me more hope for the future'
Suha recalled how she was challenged
by an Arab bank teller as to why she was
serving and only earning a sixth of what she
could earn in other jobs; "I answered him
that I am helping people and that makes me
feel good about myself. My parents support
me and that is what is important."
Suha is working in the adult Oncology
Department as a secretary and has much
contact with patients, both Jews and Arabs.
It hurts her to see young and old suffering
and that has made a deep impression on
understanding her own mortality. The posi-
tive feedback she receives from patients and
staff has proven the correctness of her deci-
sion to serve.
Rozan, whose mother is a nurse, is work-
ing in the EMC Genetics Institute. She wants
to study medicine and her experiences here
as a secretary and translator during medical
consultations have provided a firm founda-
tion upon which she plans to build. She
claims that patients (Jews and Arabs) are