Flooding the Dead Sea valley?

Vuu

Banned
An interesting idea popped up - there is a rather short and narrow section of flat land between the Jordan valley and the Mediterranean (Haifa). Digging a rather sizable canal wouldn't be so difficult, which would completely flood the valley all the way up to the Sea of Galilee, effectively giving Israel a very nice natural border, as well as increased rainfall in the region. The biggest drawback is the fact that the Jordan river is now completely submarine and therefore useless, but it's also at the same time a big fuck you to Jordan the country. It will also make invasion of the Golan difficult. On the other hand, the evaporation will be slightly higher than on the Mediterranean, making for nice sea salt production potential.

So who is the most plausible to do it? The Israelis? The British? Perhaps even the Ottomans? Note that basically this area in red will be flooded.

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Glyndwr01

Banned
An interesting idea popped up - there is a rather short and narrow section of flat land between the Jordan valley and the Mediterranean (Haifa). Digging a rather sizable canal wouldn't be so difficult, which would completely flood the valley all the way up to the Sea of Galilee, effectively giving Israel a very nice natural border, as well as increased rainfall in the region. The biggest drawback is the fact that the Jordan river is now completely submarine and therefore useless, but it's also at the same time a big fuck you to Jordan the country. It will also make invasion of the Golan difficult. On the other hand, the evaporation will be slightly higher than on the Mediterranean, making for nice sea salt production potential.

So who is the most plausible to do it? The Israelis? The British? Perhaps even the Ottomans? Note that basically this area in red will be flooded.

View attachment 457520
Vlad Trepis award you have just screwed the fresh water in an area struggling as it is!
 

kernals12

Banned
Of all the people who controlled the land and might have a reason to flood it IOTL, the Israelis happened to be in control at a time when we decided it was bad to displace hundreds of thousands of people and destroy dozens of sites of great archaeological significance.
 
I'd say that, if someone does it post founding of Israel, there will be a war as someone else decides to stop it. I can certainly see the PLO blowing up bulldozers
 

Vuu

Banned
Vlad Trepis award you have just screwed the fresh water in an area struggling as it is!

I don't know, looking at it from the satellite, the usage of the valley for agriculture is suspiciously low south of Mehola

We also have to take into account the increased rainfall and groundwater levels

I'd say that, if someone does it post founding of Israel, there will be a war as someone else decides to stop it. I can certainly see the PLO blowing up bulldozers
Heh, not like the Israelis aren't used to eternal warfare
 

kernals12

Banned
There will be hell to pay if the place where Jesus Christ was baptized winds up underwater (no joke intended).
 

Puzzle

Donor
I've got to join in with the people saying it's a poor idea, as an American we could probably walk off losing the area of Rhode Island, but that's a pretty big chunk of land for some small countries. That said I'd love to read a timeline with one of these geoengineering projects at its core.
 

Deleted member 94680

I'd say that, if someone does it post founding of Israel, there will be a war as someone else decides to stop it. I can certainly see the PLO blowing up bulldozers

They’d probably wait to see what was left after the Jordanians and every other Arab nation invade, given the casus belli I can’t see Israel getting much international sympathy on this one.
 
They’d probably wait to see what was left after the Jordanians and every other Arab nation invade, given the casus belli I can’t see Israel getting much international sympathy on this one.

It's a valid cause for war, I'd say. WHEN to start the war would be a political/diplomatic dance. Start it too soon and Israel will spin it as Arab Aggression, and get plenty of support. Start it too late, and the project might not be stopped.

If the invaders are getting too close to taking Jerusalem, instant sunshine might be on the menu. If Israel DOES unleash instant sunshine, it loses all sympathy from most people, especially if it hit cities.
 

kernals12

Banned
I see no reason to do this. The valley without water forms a highly defensible natural border as it is and digging a trench would be extremely expensive, plus it would flood a lot of valuable farmland and many archaelogical treasures, including the place where Jesus was baptized.

The only solution would be to put all these artifacts on a giant wooden boat so that they will be safe when the great flood comes.
 
Wasn't there a proposal at one time to bore a tunnel from the Med to the Dead Sea and use the flow for power generation. The flow rate was to restricted to evaporation rate iirc. Isn't the Gulf of Aquba and by extension the Dead Sea a rift zone. Isn't this likely at some point in the future
 
Archeological artifacts are rather low priority when neighbouring nations are threatening to push you into the sea and anhiliate your entire tribe/religion. These days, archeological digs in the “Holy Land” primarily support modern political claims to various bits of land.

There were a couple of other proposals to flood the Dead Sea with water from the Mediterranean, one slightly north of Jerusalem and the other near the north end of the Jordan River Valley.

Who would benefit more from increased rain fall .... Israel or Jordan? Which direction do prevailing winds blow?
 
Perhaps the Israelis build a dyke a few kilometres south of Lake Tiberias to protect the fresh water there and also to prevent Tiberias and the surrounding farmland from going underwater. So there's the benefit of the fresh water being saved and added rainfall - possibly enough to get the Jordanians onside?

The naval base at Eilat has just got much more important and they'll need to expand their navy to cover their vastly lengthened coastline.
 

kernals12

Banned
Archeological artifacts are rather low priority when neighbouring nations are threatening to push you into the sea and anhiliate your entire tribe/religion. These days, archeological digs in the “Holy Land” primarily support modern political claims to various bits of land.

There were a couple of other proposals to flood the Dead Sea with water from the Mediterranean, one slightly north of Jerusalem and the other near the north end of the Jordan River Valley.

Who would benefit more from increased rain fall .... Israel or Jordan? Which direction do prevailing winds blow?
The proposals weren't to flood the Dead Sea, but to let a trickle in which would evaporate and use the difference to generate power.
And getting across that valley is pretty difficult.
 
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