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Could Israel help Egypt break Nile dam deadlock?

A former diplomat's suggestion for Egypt to appeal to Israel to help break the deadlock over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has sparked controversy in Egypt.

Ethiopian Jewish immigrants are pictured mask-clad as protection against the coronavirus upon their arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 3, 2020.
Ethiopian Jewish immigrants are pictured mask-clad as protection against the coronavirus upon their arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 3, 2020. — Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

An Egyptian veteran diplomat’s call to resort to Israel in the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) raised much controversy and was met with rejection by a number of Egyptian writers and politicians who accused Tel Aviv of supporting Ethiopia in exchange for receiving a share of the Nile River water. 

In an interview on TV show “Yahdoth fi Masr” ("Happening in Egypt"), broadcast on the Saudi-owned satellite channel MBC July 13, Moustafa Feki, director of the Library of Alexandria, called on the concerned parties to resort to Israel to resolve the dispute over the GERD, which Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile River, amid the stalled decadelong negotiations on the dam between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. 

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