Proposed Dead Sea canal.

Proposed Dead Sea Canal

THE Secretary-General's second report on a plan by Israel to build a canal linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea (document A/38/502 and Add.1) questions the project's legality and asserts it would significantly harm Jordan's vital potash industry. It also describes the potential impact of such a canal on Jordan's agriculture, settlements, roads, health care facilities, archaeological sites and environment.

The report is based on a study by four United Nations experts who visited Jordan from 28 June to 6 July 1983.

The findings of the Mediterranean Dead Sea Company Ltd., submitted by Israel on 8 August 1983, are also included in the report, along with information prepared by an American consulting firm for that company. Israel said that the material was being forwarded "despite the fact that no developments on the ground have occurred over the past year' and even though Israel had not received the clarifications on the study it had requested.

The Assembly in 1982 (resolution 37/122) asked the Secretary-General to assess the adverse effects of the project on Jordan and Arab territories occupied since 1967, including the Gaza Strip. The Secretary-General subsequently asked Israel and Jordan to admit a team of experts to undertake the mission. Israel replied that a meeting of United Nations and Israeli experts might prove both unproductive and inconclusive.

In 1981, the General Assembly had first considered the project and demanded (resolution 36/150) that Israel cease its implementation. The Security Council was also asked to consider initiating measures to halt its execution.

The Secretary-General in 1982 reported that the canal project, essentially a hydro-electric scheme to divert sea water from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea to produce energy, would cost an estimated $1.1 billion and be completed around 1990. It was to run from the Mediterranean, through the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, to the Dead Sea. Israel said direct benefits would include energy production, cooling of thermal power stations en route, exploitation of shale oils, establishment of solar ponds on the Dead Sea, tourism and desalination of sea water.

Legal Aspects

Gaza Strip: The study says that although a State has the unfettered right to perform acts in its own territory which do not have effects outside that territory, the proposed canal project would not be carried out solely in Israeli terriotory and would affect territory not...