Mogul breathes new life into canal plan

Imagine a strip of blue water flowing 100 miles (160 kilometers) through the desert, punctuated by artificial waterfalls, surrounded by parks and luxury hotels. It would refill the shrinking Dead Sea, produce hydroelectric power and badly needed drinking water and bring Israelis and Arabs together in a thriving free-trade zone. Or, imagine a Middle Eastern white elephant built on a volatile fault line that irreparably destroys a unique desert ecosystem and the one-of-a-kind salt lake at the lowest point on Earth in the belief that peace and prosperity mean bringing in enough concrete and capital. It is hard to predict how the proposed artificial waterway from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, popularly known as the Red-Dead canal, will turn out. An idea bandied about for decades, the canal has been given a new backwind from one of... [read full story]