[Oman-l] Re: Oman-Israeli Cooperation

[Susan Hutton]

I endorse Abdulla's comments on this topic which enlarge, even if
unofficially, on His Majesty's recent foreign policy statement concerning
Palestine.

The Oman government's position is that the Palestinians have the right

1  to regain the territory taken in 1967
2  to self-determination
3  to establish an independent state on their land with Jerusalem as its
capital

The policy does not condone nor condemn.  It is simply a statement of a
position which the government expects all parties with an interest in the
matter to accept a priori in discussion.

But a number of outcomes should be anticipated from this policy.  If Israel
is seen to obstruct implementation of the policy's aims, then the Israelis
must expect a slowdown, if not a reversal, to cooperation in several fields,
including trade.

I myself was involved in a project from which Oman withdrew during the
previous Israeli administration.

Oman had been at the forefront of Gulf countries in encouraging dialogue
with Israel.  The closure of the Israeli trade office in Muscat recently was
a significant reversal to bilateral relations.

The Middle East Desalination Research Centre has a rather different
background.  It is a multi-national venture with sponsors and members from
several countries.  The new director is Jordanian (he took over earlier this
year from the first American director) and the technical director is German.
The board accepts technical advice from senior personnel in a wide mix of
global companies.  Two Israelis also sit on the board.

The establishment of the MEDRC has a broader aim.  Very severe water
shortages are forecast for the MENA region within 20 to 50 years both as a
result of natural climatic conditions and because of rapidly rising
populations.  Natural water resources cannot be expected to supply total
needs and desalination is an obvious alternative.  But because desalination
is so expensive in terms of energy use, and because there haven't been major
breakthroughs in technique recently, it makes a lot of sense to pool
resources and knowledge to try and refine any energy-efficient methods that
can be proven to work.

At the moment, MEDRC acts as a research fund centre.  The board assesses
which desalination project proposals may have a viable outcome with the
funding that it releases.

The Israelis have their own headaches about desalination.  Their ministry of
finance opposes the building of desal plants as being an unnecessary
financial burden while natural water resources are still available, even
though the lead time for building a plant is quoted as at least five years.

I am fairly confident that the new power plant building programme in Oman
will also include desalination plants alongside the electricity generation
plants.  I believe that these plants may be in operation within a shorter
time span.

Regards

Sue Hutton


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Sue Hutton
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