Cablegate: Israel-Jordan Environmental and Related Cooperation

VZCZCXRO6409
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHTV #4853/01 3491423
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151423Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8233
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 004853

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ECON PREL EAID EPET JO IS
SUBJECT: ISRAEL-JORDAN ENVIRONMENTAL AND RELATED COOPERATION

REF: AMMAN 7727

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY.

1. (SBU) Summary: The Israeli Ministry of Environmental
Protection welcomes cooperation and exchange with Jordan's
Green Police. The GOI also welcomes the upcoming World Bank
feasibility study of the proposed Red Sea-Dead Sea water
conveyance project. Two kibbutzim have helped the GOI
fulfill treaty obligations with Jordan by starting to treat
their sewage before it enters the Jordan River. Israel and
Jordan have completed ten years of cooperation in the Gulf of
Aqaba with a recent oil spill exercise. They are also
working to increase cooperation in flood control north of the
Gulf. In addition, there are initiatives in industrial
innovation and hi-tech economic development. End summary.

2. (SBU) NEA Senior S&T Advisor Charles Lawson visited Israel
for a series of meetings with GOI officials and others
November 5-8 to discuss issues related to water, environment
and regional cooperation. This message reports on related
areas of Israeli-Jordanian cooperation. The Director General
of the Infrastructure Ministry told Lawson that the GOI is
strongly in favor of the World Bank feasibility study for the
Red Sea-Dead Sea water conveyance project. Lawson conveyed
Government of Jordan interest in developing between Jordanian
and Israeli police forces involved in environmental
enforcement activities. The Director General of the GOI
Ministry of Environmental Protection welcomed the Jordanian
interest. MOE will make direct contact with Jordanian
counterparts, coordinating with the GOI Ministry of Interior
and other government bodies as necessary.

3. (SBU) An MFA official responsible for regional water
issues told Lawson that two kibbutzim on the Lower Jordan
River had recently begun treating their sewage, improving the
quality of runoff into the river. The official was not aware
of any corresponding recent improvements in sewage treatment
on the Jordanian side. Both countries committed to treatment
of sewage flowing into the Jordan in the water provisions of
their bilateral peace treaty.

4. (SBU) At the local level, a senior Israeli environmental
attorney in private practice told Lawson that the
jurisdictions of Eilat and Aqaba and regional development and
drainage authorities are discussing how to improve flood
control in the lower Arava Valley. This follows extensive
damage on the Israeli side and reports of deaths from
flooding on the Jordanian side earlier this year. The two
countries' water authorities are becoming engaged on this
issue as well.

5. (SBU) An official of the Negev and Galilee Development
Ministry told Lawson that Shimon Peres is working on
development options for the Lower Jordan Valley that would
provide jobs in software engineering and other hi-tech
enterprises for Jordanians as well as Israelis. The Israeli
executive director of the U.S. Israel Binational Industrial
Research and Development Foundation (BIRD) met with Lawson to
discuss current efforts to carry out a second pilot grant
round of the Trilateral Industrial Development (TRIDE)
initiative, involving U.S.-Israeli-Jordanian partnerships in
industrial innovation. The BIRD director is working with
Jordanian counterparts to identify teams of Israeli and
Jordanian companies that can then seek American partners to
present proposals for TRIDE grants.

6. (SBU) Subsequent to Lawson's visit, ESTH Officer
participated as an observer November 15 at a joint
Israeli-Jordanian oil spill containment and cleanup drill in
the Gulf of Aqaba. Both countries have very professional
teams at their respective Eilat and Aqaba emergency response
centers and each has an officer seconded to the other's
center. The Israeli response center is able to provide
real-time readings on temperature, wind, and currents -
collected by an Israeli maritime institute - to Jordanian
counterparts. The two sides now have ten years experience
working together in drills and on actual spills. The only
glitch in the drill was that the possibly overly cautious GOI
MOE security officer did not permit the Israeli participants
to visit the Jordanian center for an after-action review,
although the Jordanian team had visited the Israeli response
center in recent months. Two GOI MOE officials participated
in a limited after-action review on a boat on the water on
the Jordanian side of the Gulf.

7. (U) NEA Senior S&T Advisor Lawson cleared this message.

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