PEACE may have broken out between Israel and Jordan but battle lines are now being drawn between the Israeli government and environmentalists over plans to build a canal linking the Dead Sea to the world鈥檚 oceans.
The idea behind the canal is to take advantage of the 400-metre drop between the Dead Sea and either the Mediterranean or the Red Sea to generate hydroelectric power.
Israel鈥檚 energy minister, Gonen Segev, told a conference at Tel-Aviv University last week that a canal could produce 800 megawatts of electricity and return the Dead Sea to its 1930 level. He said, however, that the feasibility study was incomplete and that no decision had been taken.
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But Dan Perry, general manager of Israel鈥檚 Nature Reserves Authority, pleaded with the canal鈥檚 supporters to forget the whole idea. A sea-to-sea canal, he said, might make groundwater saline and would divide embattled populations of already rare animals.
He also pointed out that the Dead Sea鈥檚 water level has fluctuated widely throughout its history and that there is no reason to assume that its 1930 level was any more desirable than its current one.
鈥淲henever man has made major changes in the environment, the results have never been what people expected,鈥� Perry said. 鈥淚 call on you to dump the project before too much money gets spent on nothing.鈥�