essay

Prized Commodity

Terror not blinding Israel to
Palestinian need for water.

The shrinking Dead Sea straddles Israel and Jordan.

I

their bid for international recogni- River, toward growing countries in the
srael and two Arab neighbors
tion of a Palestinian state linking
are rallying around the urgent
region.
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
The project not only would address a
need for freshwater, so pre-
with the Arab-dominated eastern
critical water shortfall, but also the impact
cious in a region overwrought
sector of Jerusalem as the capital.
of mixing Red Sea water with water from
with seawater.
Jordan already is a Palestinian
the ecologically sensitive Dead Sea.
Most striking about a July 13
state yet has shown little interest
Under the project, the new desalination
trilateral agreement is the intent
in assuaging the burden faced by
plant at Aqaba would provide freshwater
to increase flow of potable water
Palestinian refugees.
for Israel and Jordan. Israel would share
into the Gaza Strip, where 97
Robert Sklar
Contributing Editor
Israel can’t be more unlike its
Lake Kinneret freshwater with Jordan. The
percent of the water isn’t drink-
trilateral partners. The partner-
P.A. would buy 32 million cubic meters of
able. The coastal enclave already
ship illustrates how good can per-
freshwater from Israel at reduced cost —
is gripped by a humanitarian cri-
colate when political differences
10 million cm for Gazans and 22 million
sis caused in no small measure
are cast aside for mutual benefit.
cm for the West Bank.
by its terrorist overlord, Hamas.
Jerusalem is at peace with
More potable water also is on tap for
Jordan’s constitutional monar-
the West Bank, Jordan and Israel.
DELVING DEEPER
chy in Amman, but maintains
Trilateral partners are ethnically
Israel’s Regional Cooperation
tenuous ties with P.A. leaders in
diverse: Israel, a Jewish and democratic
Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said
Ramallah. Any example of cross-
state; Jordan, a Sunni Arab kingdom; and
the July 13 trilateral agreement
border cooperation, such as
the Palestinian Authority (P.A.), suppos-
sprouted from “passionate nego-
water sharing, heralds something
edly political moderate. The P.A.’s Sunni
tiations” led by U.S. President
special.
Fatah faction governs much of the West
Donald Trump’s special envoy
Bank. Despite terrorist tendencies, Fatah
for international relations, Jason
Tzachi Hanegbi
represents Gazans in humanitarian mat-
BIG PICTURE
Greenblatt, and from “the prag-
ters given Sunni Hamas’ pariah status.
The water pact is part of a larger
matic and professional approach”
The U.S.-brokered water pact won’t
accord, conceptualized in 2013,
of the trilateral partners.
solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
that calls for a 137-mile pipeline
The agreement underscored
which precedes Israeli statehood in 1948.
to transfer water from the Red Sea
that “water can serve as means
Nor will it suddenly counter the systemic
to the Dead Sea. That would nom-
for reconciliation, prosperity and
hatred toward everything Israel infest-
inally restore the water level of the
cooperation rather than calls for
ing Palestinian culture. Still, it’s a bold,
fast-receding Dead Sea, the lowest
tensions and dispute,” Hanegbi
determined step that could sway ordi-
point on the planet’s surface.
said, according to Times of Israel.
nary Palestinians. Durable peace must
Meanwhile, the pipeline would Jason Greenblatt
Potable water is certainly a
rise from the grassroots. Cooperatively
generate hydroelectric energy to
common partner need. Putting
improving Palestinian living conditions
this in perspective, Hanegbi says
power a new regional desaliniza-
could ease the way.
“when you focus on the issues, and not
tion plant at Aqaba, a Jordanian gulf city
history or background or personal emo-
near Eilat in southern Israel.
UNLIKELY UNION
tions or other disturbing elements, the
The so-dubbed Two Seas Canal Project
The P.A. oversaw Gaza until Hamas
common denominator’s much bigger than
would move 100 million cubic meters of
seized power in a bloody 2007 coup.
what separates us.”
water a year from the Red to the Dead.
Terrorist trappings render Hamas unfit
Two Seas Canal Project financing con-
The Dead Sea has been victimized partly
to represent the Palestinian people and
tinues. The World Bank pledged up to
by redirection of its feeder, the Jordan

Contributing Writers:
Joshua Lewis Berg, Ruthan Brodsky, Rochel
Burstyn, Suzanne Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don
Cohen, Shari S. Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman,
Adam Finkel, Stacy Gittleman, Stacy Goldberg,
Judy Greenwald, Ronelle Grier, Esther Allweiss
Ingber, Allison Jacobs, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer
Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz,
David Sachs, Karen Schwartz, Robin Schwartz,
Steve Stein, Joyce Wiswell

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$400 million. The U.S., Japan, Italy and the
European Union have pledged support.
As a goodwill gesture, Israel will begin
sale of water to the P.A. by year end, the
Jerusalem Post reported.

WHAT AWAITS

As intergovernmental deals go, this one
pulsates with possibilities, including
sparks of economic stability for the P.A.
Water rights, of course, is just one of the
final-status issues dogging the dormant
peace process. Others include mutual
recognition, borders, security, settlements,
refugees, Jerusalem and holy sites.
No one expects the mid-July water deal,
in concert with a deal a few days before
to bring a new West Bank electrical sub-
station to Jenin, to rekindle negotiating
toward solving the anguishing conflict
between Israel and the Palestinian people.
But as Greenblatt suggested, the water
deal, necessary and substantial, might
well prove “a harbinger of things to come.”
Israel never wanted to be a regional
loner. Continually making it so is anti-
Zionist violence condoned by P.A. leader
Mahmoud Abbas. Such savagery mani-
fested itself once more when Israel react-
ed defensively to terror atop Jerusalem’s
Temple Mount, coincidentally adminis-
tered by the Jordan-based Islamic Waqf.
Perhaps peace treaties with Egypt and
Jordan will coalesce with burgeoning
regional acts of humanitarianism to coax
a shift in thinking and a sense of trust
among Palestinians. The hoped-for effect:
new negotiating in pursuit of that elusive
two-state solution — a Jewish state and a
Palestinian state coexisting side by side in
peace, with safe, secure borders.
We cannot relinquish hope. •

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