Washington: Israel’s proposal to enhance cooperation with Arab countries in efforts to address environmental issues such as climate change, global warming and water scarcity met with muted popular acceptance in the region as a result of the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinians. Land and the low priority that the Israeli government considers for such projects.

The proposal for closer ties was included in a newly published Israeli report on environmental challenges facing Middle Eastern countries, which was discussed by a panel of Israeli experts and officials during a session hosted by the Middle East Institute in Washington on Monday. .

Experts focused on the need for more cooperation, in areas such as water management and renewable energy, between Israel and Arab countries with which it already has official relations, including Morocco, Bahrain, the UAE and Jordan.

It was noted that the PA’s municipal powers in the West Bank are very limited, and as a result, its participation in regional planning and discussions on water scarcity and climate change has also been limited, mainly because it has no real powers to implement independent policies. It has been severely weakened by the Israeli military occupation.

The audience at the panel discussion heard that Israel and Jordan launched a joint initiative called Eco Peace in 1994 after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Its goal was to promote sustainable development and enhance environmental cooperation between the two countries and the Palestinians.

In recent years, Israel and Jordan also signed a declaration of intent for a joint water-for-energy project. Jordan will generate 600 megawatts of solar power in its deserts that will be exported to Israel to supply clean energy, while Israel will build desalination plants on the Mediterranean and supply water-scarce Jordan with 200 million cubic meters of desalinated water. .

The agreement is supported by the US government and will be funded by the United Arab Emirates. However, the project faced strong opposition from the Jordanian public, with some arguing that Jordan gives Israel the authority to control its water resources, while others highlighted the mistreatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Speakers discussed the need to collaborate on issues related to water and climate, and ways in which civil society groups from all sides can play a critical role in promoting such joint efforts, such as the Environmental Peace Initiative.

The Middle East and North Africa region is home to about 500 million people and is one of the most environmentally stressed regions in the world. It is extremely dry, with vast deserts and very limited water resources.

Israeli speakers at Monday’s event suggested that to overcome political obstacles in the region, local groups should reach out to their governments to push for regional cooperation on environmental issues.

Gideon Bromberg, co-founder and Israeli director of Eco Peace Middle East, said: “Israel can produce water at a price Jordan can only dream of while Jordan has the capacity to produce it.

Energy through solar energy, due to its vast desert and open areas, and producing renewable energy at a price that Israel can only dream of.”

But he added that his previous proposals had run into difficulties and been treated as a low priority under administrations led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has questioned “why should Israel depend on Arab countries”.

Bromberg said that countries in the region should have a “healthy dependency” in the mold of European economic cooperation.

Galit Cohen, head of the Climate and National Security Program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and former director general of Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, discussed Israel’s membership in the Cypriot government’s initiative to coordinate climate change actions in the east. Mediterranean and Middle East region, with the aim of developing a regional plan to address environmental issues.

She said that the recent Abraham Accords, which led to the normalization of relations between Israel and many Arab countries, helped the Israeli participation and integration efforts in the Arab world. But she noted that Palestinians are not represented in many regional environmental discussions.

Palestinians say that Israeli military encroachment and annexation activities in the West Bank have impeded any meaningful Palestinian participation in discussions about environmental issues.

During the session, Israeli Ambassador Gideon Behar, the Israeli Special Envoy for Climate Change and Sustainability, highlighted some examples of Israeli and Arab cooperation on issues related to the environment and water.

As one example of potential regional integration, he said, Israel is a “regional desalination superpower,” which puts it in a position to supply much-needed water to Jordan’s urban centers.