Israelis and Palestinians Find Common Ground on Water

A memorandum of understanding signed at the World Bank headquarters in Washington this week, "will help save the Dead Sea; supply water and later electricity; and bring about 'strategic, economic and political cooperation,' said [Silvan Shalom, Israel’s water and energy minister], who said he hoped it would serve as a 'window for regional peace.'"

Under the agreement, drinking water provided by a new desalination facility on the Red Sea in Aqaba, Jordan will be shared by Israel and Jordan. "In addition to the desalination facility, a 112-mile pipeline would convey brine from the Aqaba plant to partially replenish the shrinking Dead Sea, a hyper-saline body of water," reports Batsheva Sobelman.

“This is a historic agreement that realizes a dream of many years,” said Shalom. “The agreement is of the highest diplomatic, economic, environmental and strategic importance.”