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Israel-Jordan water agreement not worth the hype

An agreement to pump water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea fails to address Israel's unilateral appropriation of Jordan River waters.
AMMAN, JORDAN - MARCH 26:  A general view over the Red Sea looking towards Jericho Israel on March 26, 2013 outside Amman, Jordan.  (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

A $400 million agreement to create a desalination plant in Aqaba and to pump brine water to the Dead Sea is a far cry from what is being hyped by Israel as an “historic agreement.”

The memorandum of understanding signed at the World Bank on Dec. 9 by Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian officials calls for the creation of a desalination plant in Aqaba that would supply clean water to Aqaba and Eilat and pump sea water into the shrinking Dead Sea. In return, Israel would give Jordan 50 million cubic meters of water from the Sea of Galilee free of charge and sell to the Palestinians 20 million to 30 million cubic meters of water. Jordan would supply Eilat with 30 million cubic meters of water and make the same amount available to its own southern population.

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