By Abdul Raouf Arnaout
JERUSALEM (AA) – The U.S. has called on Israel to implement an earlier agreement with Jordan to link the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, Israel’s Channel 10 reported on Friday.
According to the broadcaster, Israel has proposed an alternative project — which Amman has reportedly rejected — to instead link the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean.
The alternative plan reportedly came up for discussion during a visit to Amman earlier this month by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but was ruled out by Jordanian King Abdullah II.
According to Channel 10, top U.S. administration officials have recently discussed the stalled Red-Dead Sea project with their Israeli counterparts.
The broadcaster quoted a U.S. National Security Council spokesman as saying that Washington had conveyed its continued support for the scheme to Israeli officials.
The U.S., the broadcaster reported, was now calling on Israel to implement the earlier agreement with Jordan “or find an alternative acceptable to both it and Amman”.
Washington is a main partner in the project and has reportedly earmarked $100 million for its implementation.
Israel suspended the project last summer as a means of pressuring Jordan to allow its embassy in Amman to reopen after an embassy guard murdered two Jordanian citizens.
Although Jordan allowed the embassy to reopen shortly afterward, the fate of the project remains in political limbo.
