INFRASTRUCTURE MINISTRY COOPERATING WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 002469 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2016 TAGS: SENV ENRG PREL KPAL KWBG JO IS ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SUBJECT: INFRASTRUCTURE MINISTRY COOPERATING WITH PALESTINIANS ON WATER, CONTINUES TO SUPPORT RED-DEAD FEASIBILITY STUDY Classified By: Economic Counselor William Weinstein, reasons 1.4 (b) an d (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Israel continues to supply 43 million cubic meters of water to Palestinians on the West Bank, and Israeli Water Commission officials communicate daily with Palestinian Water Authority counterparts on "emergency and humanitarian issues." GOI officials support donor projects to reduce uncontrolled sewage in Palestinian areas. GOI officials also want the World Bank to proceed with a planned feasibility study of the proposed Red Sea-Dead Sea water transfer project. NGOs are concerned about the environmental impact and believe that increased water flows to the Dead Sea should come from restoration of the Lower Jordan River. Nonetheless, they do not oppose the pending World Bank study. Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Infrastructure Minister Ben-Eliezer have clashed over competing visions of the project. Israel is talking with Azerbaijan and Turkey about its long-term energy and water needs. End summary. -------------- -------------- Israeli Officials Seeking to Maintain Cooperation on Water -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) NEA Senior S&T Advisor Charles Lawson and ESTH Officer met with Infrastructure Ministry Director General (DG) Eli Ronen in Tel Aviv June 15 to discuss water and related issues. Ronen was accompanied by his senior advisor and officials of the Israeli Water Commission. Ronen said that Infrastructure Minister Ben-Eliezer had received a letter from the office of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Abbas suggesting that Abbas' office might be able to handle water dealings with Israel. Ben-Eliezer was looking into the matter. In the meantime, Israel was continuing to supply 43 million cubic meters of water (on an annual basis) to Palestinians on the West Bank, and the Water Commission official in charge of West Bank activities was in daily communication with the head of the Palestinian Water Authority regarding "emergency and humanitarian issues." Ronen and the Water Commission representatives noted that Israel was supporting donor projects for sewage treatment in the Palestinian territories. They asked that the U.S. maintain funding for the suspended Hebron wastewater treatment project and restart the project as soon as possible. -------------- Israel Wants Red-Dead Study to Go Forward -------------- ¶3. (C) Ronen said that Israel wants the World Bank to sponsor the pending feasibility study of the proposed Red Sea-Dead Sea water transfer project. As the terms of reference for the study include the Palestinians as prospective beneficiaries of the project, during a June 14 meeting in Amman, Minister Ben-Eliezer and Jordanian Water Minister Zafer Alem discussed the possibility of the office of President Abbas being the point of contact for the study. According to Ronen, Ben-Eliezer agreed to bring the idea to the cabinet for consideration. In any case, study funds would go to international consultants and not to the PA, Ronen said. NGO representatives told Lawson in a meeting in Jerusalem June 14 that they are concerned about the environmental impact of the project and believe that increased water flows to the Dead Sea should come from restoration of the Lower Jordan River. They and Ministry of Environment officials who saw Lawson in Tel Aviv June 15 expressed interest in a possible parallel World Bank study on ways to rehabilitate the Lower Jordan River and particularly the issue of how to restore previous water flows. An aide to Shimon Peres told Lawson June 15 that Peres and Ben-Eliezer had clashed over the scale of desalination to be included in the Red-Dead project and over which of the two should be engaging with the Jordanians over Red-Dead (septel). -------------- -------------- Israel Planning for Long-term Energy and Water Supplies -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Ronen said Ben-Eliezer was discussing a possible feasibility study for a water pipeline from Turkey to Israel with his Turkish counterpart. They had also talked about a possible combined future water, oil, gas and electricity "corridor," including the possibility of future Turkish water supplies not only to Israel, but also for the Palestinians, Jordan, the Sinai and possibly Lebanon. Ben-Eliezer had visited Baku recently, and discussed the possibility of tanker shipments of oil from Azerbaijan to Ashkelon and from there by pipeline to Eilat for transshipment to East Asian markets. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** JONES