RAMALLAH, West Bank — On Dec. 9, 2013, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington to begin work on the Bahrain canal under the sponsorship of the World Bank, to connect the Red Sea and the Dead Sea. The canal aims at preventing the decrease in water levels suffered by the latter.

The first phase of the project was started by Jordan and Israel signing — in the absence of the PA, on Feb. 26, 2015 — an agreement to begin implementing the project through the establishment of a water desalination plant on the Red Sea, north of Jordan’s Aqaba, and transport saltwater by-products via a 200-kilometer (124-mile) canal to the Dead Sea.

A Palestinian absence from the signing ceremony led to a slew of questions regarding the stance of the Palestinian side — which remained silent on the matter. Numerous officials refused to comment to Al-Monitor, although criticism by water, environmental and political experts abounds with regard to the project.

Experts told Al-Monitor that the PA is not a main part of the project, and that it only attended the meeting in 2013 in response to pressure by the United States and Jordan. The PA’s presence had political motives and was aimed at financing the project.