Experts on environment affairs criticized the Israeli and Jordanian attempts to pass a bill on approving the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal during meetings of ministers of irrigation of the Union for the Mediterranean States in Jordan. The project would lead to the deterioration of environmental conditions in the region, particularly coral reefs. In addition, it would have negative impacts on the Gulf of Aqaba and the tourism flow to Sharm el-Sheikh, they said.
Al-Masry Al-Youm learnt that 22 Arab organizations concerned with environment affairs intend to file a report to the International Court of Justice and the United Nations Environment Program to prevent this project, which would negatively affect the Red Sea.
“Minister of Irrigation Mahmoud Abu Zeid and the Ministry of Environment should reject this project due to its negative effects on marine life and tourism,” Dr. Magdy Allam, an expert on environment affairs, said. The Ministry of Environment sent a report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its vision of the project, MP Allam said, pointing out that the Arab Federation for Youth and Environment, in addition to other 52 organizations, have previously objected to this project during the Earth Summit in 2003.
This project has many negative aspects, as it will affect the Egyptian and Saudi coasts, which extend for more than 140 kilometers, while the Jordanian and Israeli coasts extend only for 10 kilometers. Israel has no right to control the Gulf of Aqaba, so it has to get Egyptian and Saudi approval before implementing the project, which will affect the two countries. The Israeli-Jordanian project will have negative effects on tourism, especially diving tourism. In addition, it will affect navigation movement, particularly in the islands of Tiran and Snaver, which have rare coral reefs. “Egypt has to invite the States on the Gulf of Aqaba to hold a regional convention to make use of the Gulf,” Allam said.
For his part, former chairman of Menoufia University and expert in water resources Maghawri Shehata said the Minister of Irrigation has nothing to do with the project, as this is the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment. At first, the project aimed to dig a channel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, but the General Assembly of the United Nations and the International Agency for Environment Protection rejected the project mid 1970 due to its bad effects on the environment. The World Bank called for not financing the project.
Therefore, Israel tried to change the project and connect the Red Sea with the Dead Sea through a canal and then a pipeline along the borders between Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories so as to reduce the salinity of the Dead Sea, generate electricity and establish tourism projects, but the project would also have negative effects on environment.
