Exclusive: Israel, Jordan, PA to sign trilateral water swap, sales agreements

[Eugene]

Source: Jerusalem Post

Exclusive: Israel, Jordan, PA to sign trilateral water swap, sales agreements

By SHARON UDASIN
12/10/2013 01:20

In an effort to quench an ever-thirsty region through cooperation, representatives from the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian governments signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding on water exchanges and allocations in Washington on Monday afternoon.

The parties will begin pursuing three water-sharing initiatives over the next few months, Alexander McPhail, the lead water and sanitation specialist in the World Bank’s Water Practice division, told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview on Monday, prior to the signing.

Among the initiatives is the development of a desalination plant near Aqaba, from which the potable water will be shared by Israel and Jordan, and the salty brines will be pipelined to the Dead Sea, McPhail explained.

In return, Israel will increase the annual releases of water from Lake Kinneret to Jordan and will also increase its sales of water to the Palestinian Authority, he added.

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Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Enviro-Tech/Exclusive-Israel-Jordan-PA-to-sign-trilateral-water-swap-sales-agreements-334505

[Jefferson23]

1. How generous.

[Dick Dastardly]

2. Please explain? n/t

[Jefferson23]

3. Sure,

snip*Israel will also sell an additional 30 million cubic meters of water to the Palestinian Authority. But that does not address the long-running Palestinian concern that Israel is dealing with water as a good rather than a joint natural resource to be divided fairly.

"This fails the Palestinian interest because they are not going to have control over the new amount of water," says Nader Khateeb, Palestinian director for Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME), one of the region's most prominent environmental groups dealing with water. "It has nothing about Palestinian fair share of joint water resources."

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Reality-Check/2013/1209/Israel-agrees-to-swap-water-with-thirsty-neighbors-but-can-it-quench-demand

[shaayecanaan]

4. Israel pumps the Jordan pretty much dry

In addition, the emergence of a Palestinian state will further complicate matters, since Israel's large scale withdrawals from the Jordan system leave but a trickle of saline water in the bed of the Jordan where it is appurtenant to the West Bank. This will make it impossible for a Palestinian state to realize its equitable share of Jordan River water unless it is delivered by pipe or canal from the Sea of Galilee (ie Lake Kinneret), or unless more water of good quality is allowed to flow into the bed of the lower Jordan.

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=BwRHVU7SGrAC&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=lebanon+hasbani+river+entitlement&source=bl&ots=rSLSYh-VeS&sig=jorsTcP8CnHATqCDA1hwZkyMtHc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6qKmUs_oEonfkAXz3ICoCA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=lebanon%20hasbani%20river%20entitlement&f=false

It should be noted that most of this water originates in Lebanon. Currently Lebanon only has a 10cm bore drawing water for a couple of villages. They are clearly entitled to more than that.

However, the last time Lebanon and Syria attempted to draw significant water from the Hasbani springs, the Israelis bombed the water plants, leading to the Six Day war.