Thanks to the Abraham Accords, Jordan and Israel Are Concluding a Solar-Energy and Water Deal

Nov. 18 2021

Accompanying Israel’s normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain has been much hope that these would usher in something more robust than the “cold peace” resulting from Israel’s peace treaties with Egypt (1977) and Jordan (1994), which have brought out-of-the-spotlight security and intelligence cooperation, but not much in the way of economic or cultural exchange. Not only have the events of the past year suggested that such hope was merited, but now there is also reason to believe that the Abraham Accords are helping to expand the relationship between Amman and Jerusalem. Lahav Harkov reports:

Israel and Jordan are set next week to sign a cooperation agreement in the areas of energy and water in the United Arab Emirates, which helped to mediate the agreement. The agreement states that Israel and Jordan will help each other deal with the challenges of climate change.

Israel agreed to examine the possible construction of a designated desalination plant to export more water to Jordan at full price, and Jordan will consider building a solar field in the desert in Jordan to export clean energy to Israel, which lacks open space, and to test solar-energy storage solutions.

The energy agreement is based on the Water and Energy Nexus, a project of EcoPeace Middle East, which brings together Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian environmental experts and activists.

Read more at Jerusalem Post

More about: Abraham Accords, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Water

Expand Gaza into Sinai

Feb. 11 2025

Calling the proposal to depopulate Gaza completely (if temporarily) “unworkable,” Peter Berkowitz makes the case for a similar, but more feasible, plan:

The United States along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE should persuade Egypt by means of generous financial inducements to open the sparsely populated ten-to-fifteen miles of Sinai adjacent to Gaza to Palestinians seeking a fresh start and better life. Egypt would not absorb Gazans and make them citizens but rather move Gaza’s border . . . westward into Sinai. Fences would be erected along the new border. The Israel Defense Force would maintain border security on the Gaza-extension side, Egyptian forces on the other. Egypt might lease the land to the Palestinians for 75 years.

The Sinai option does not involve forced transfer of civilian populations, which the international laws of war bar. As the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other partners build temporary dwellings and then apartment buildings and towns, they would provide bus service to the Gaza-extension. Palestinian families that choose to make the short trip would receive a key to a new residence and, say, $10,000.

The Sinai option is flawed. . . . Then again, all conventional options for rehabilitating and governing Gaza are terrible.

Read more at RealClear Politics

More about: Donald Trump, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula