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When the $10 billion Red-Dead Canal plan got the axe earlier in August, we discussed plan B for restoring some sense of water security to northern Jordan: a smaller desalination plant in Wadi Araba to trade water with Israel and Palestine. Sure enough, just a couple of weeks later, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour announced that as a matter of strategic national interest, the Kingdom will trade water with Israel. Jordan will sell water produced by a new Red Sea desalination project to their neighbor to the West, in return for which Israel will transfer 50 million cubic meters of water taken from the Tiberian reservoir to the northern section of the Kingdom, which has been especially hard pressed to provide a decent supply of water since hundreds of thousands of refugees have spilled across its borders.

Some brine will still be pumped into the Dead Sea, which is problematic since the Red Sea’s sulphate mixed with the Dead Sea’s calcium is expected to leave a film of white gypsum on the water

in the past year Israeli authorities demolished 22 water cisterns and 37 residential and agricultural structures funded by EU member states.

demolition orders and "stop-work" orders against a long list of other EU-funded schemes, including: 14 water cisterns; 34 water sanitation facilities; eight solar energy schemes; two schools and a medical centre

on 13 February, Israeli bulldozers damaged Polish-funded repair work to an ancient well in the "illegal" Palestinian village of El Rahawia in the West Bank at the same time as flattening the village itself and making 83 people homeless

Gazans are spending as much as one-third of their household income on drinking water, and are facing growing health risks

95 percent of the water in the coastal aquifer has dangerous levels of nitrates and chloride, often ten times what the World Health Organization recommends

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev says Israel is doing everything possible to help Gazans drink clean water. “Israel has been helping to improve the water infrastructure in Gaza and Israel was willing to double or even triple the amount of water going into Gaza,” Regev told The Media Line. “It is the same water that you and I drink, and the Gazans would pay less than what we pay but they weren’t willing to accept that solution.”

The Solar Panels also enabled the residents to run a water-pump to provide the village with water supplies, especially since it does not have running water.

Several Israeli NGO’s, and the United Nations, are trying to convince the army to void its decision that came without prior notice. The Spanish government is also using diplomatic channels in an attempt to prevent the army from removing the Solar Panels. The project was implemented with a total cost of nearly 365.000 Euros, largely funded by Seeba. Head of the village council, Ali Hreizat, told France Press that “these Solar Panels were they ray of hope to the residents”, and added, “We have been living here since 1948, and have nowhere else to go”. Hreizat added that the village was never recognized by Israel, and all of its constructions were built without construction permits, therefore, asking Israel to permit the installment of the Solar Panels would be in vain.

an application was actually filed to Israel before the project started, but the military division, in charge of construction permits, never responded.

"For reasons of public health as well as religious integrity, baptism should be banned from taking place in the river," said Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli director of EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East. Israeli authorities said on Tuesday (July 27) that tests done on the water of the lower Jordan River show the popular site for baptismal ceremonies at Qasr el Yahud on the West Bank meets health ministry standards. Bromberg, however, said the ceremonies should not take place until pollutants are removed from the water. The site, inside an Israeli controlled military zone, faces another baptismal site on Jordan's side of the river. Both sites attract pilgrims who come to the Holy Land, and both are claimed as the authentic site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. "Our call is to halt baptisms on both sides of the river. It is exactly the same polluted water," said Bromberg.

the river suffers from "severe mismanagement," including the diversion of 98 percent of its fresh water to Israel, Syria and Jordan, as well as the discharge of untreated sewage and agricultural run-off.