Union for the Mediterranean signs water management agreementPrint
Europe
Written by Chris Perver  
Tuesday, 23 December 2008 12:06
Ministers from the forty three countries that make up the Union for the Mediterranean met on the shores of the Dead Sea on Monday to sign a new water management agreement. The meeting had originally been scheduled to take place in October but it was postponed due to tensions between Israel and the Arab League over the participation of the two sides in the newly formed organization. The agreement is the first of its kind for the Middle East, bringing the European Union, Israel and the Arab world together to co-operate on common issues that affect the entire region. Member states attending the summit agreed upon a strategy that would focus on preserving water quality and improving resource efficiency in the Mediterranean. Israel's proposed 'peace canal' project was discussed at the meeting. The joint initiative would be undertaken by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. The goal of the project is to replenish the water levels of the ever shrinking Dead Sea. Jordan and the Palestinian Authority would also benefit from the scheme.

Quote: ""I think that all the region will benefit from the project," Israeli Minister of Infrastructure Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on water on the shore of the Dead Sea. Though Jordan has the most to gain, ensuring the survival of the Dead Sea "would serve the nations" of the region, Ben-Eliezer said, highlighting the need for the canal and the linked construction of a desalination plant. "I believe that 60 percent of desalinated water will go to Jordan," he said, noting that the project's environmental studies will take "about a year and a half."

It's not the first time that such a scheme has been proposed. As I said before, the time my grandfather went to visit Israel - some thirty years ago, the Israeli tour-guide told his group that the Israeli government were planning to build a canal from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea. They said they had all the money to build it and were planning to commence construction the following year. After the tour-guide finished his talk, the Christian leader of the group stated that the project would never get off the ground, and explained from the Scriptures why that would be so. And sure enough, the next year the inflation went up, and the project was quickly shelved. And although the World Bank is carrying out a feasibility study on the initiative, many hurdles remain to be overcome. King Abdullah II has been reluctant to give the go ahead to the scheme, fearing that a Hamas coup in the West Bank could result in an Islamic terrorist organization in control of Jordan's water supply. Scientists have also been opposed to the plan, fearing that an earthquake could damage the canal, flooding hundreds of acres of farm land with salt water. But it seems that the Israeli government have not been studying their Torah. For the Bible states that when Christ returns to set up His Kingdom, that an earthquake will cause an underground reservoir to burst, sending fresh water from Jerusalem (2500 feet above sea level) down towards the Dead Sea (700 feet below sea level).

Ezekiel 47:8-9
Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.

The water shall not come from the Mediterranean or the Red Sea. It shall originate from Jerusalem itself, and from the very Sanctuary of God (Ezekiel 47:1). It is the Lord Who will perform this miracle. The same God that brought forth water out of the rock for the children of Israel as they journeyed through the desert (Exodus 17:6) will bring water out of the Holy Mount to satisfy the thirst of His people. On the first occasion, God instructed Moses to smite the rock with his staff, and the refreshing water could come forth for all the people. Jesus Christ was the One Who was smitten for you (Matthew 26:31). It is only through His sacrifice on the cross that we have access to the Living Water, which if a man drink he shall never thirst again. He died for you so that you could be forgiven. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation today.

John 4:13-14
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Source Jerusalem Post, AfricAsia

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