As war appears to be winding down in the Middle East and US President Donald Trump moves to strengthen his Board of Peace ahead of Gaza rehabilitation, there is one critical issue that could contribute to lasting regional stability: cooperation on climate-based needs and challenges affecting countries from the Mediterranean coast to the Gulf.
Even as hesitation and distrust linger, pressing needs persist in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Egypt, the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, and, of course, Gaza. And, according to plans drawn up by a group of optimistic environmentalists, there is still hope for a harmonious future structured around these needs.
Where politics has failed, they say, environmental needs could succeed.
Water as a starting point
“Where there is interest or need, there is cooperation,” Nadav Tal, a hydrologist and chief water officer at EcoPeace, an environmental NGO that works in Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority, told The Jerusalem Report in a recent interview.
Each of those countries has its own environmental challenges, which are both distinct yet similar to those of its neighbors, and greater reliance on and support from each other could bring benefits across the region.
Jordan is one of the world’s most water-scarce countries, with very limited fresh water sources, compounded by rapid population growth and climate change. While it receives some water from neighboring Israel, it is not enough.
“We used to get water delivered once a week… For the past month, we haven’t gotten any water, even though we paid a fortune for it,” said Malik (name changed for privacy reasons), a resident of Jordan’s capital, Amman. “On top of that, clean water is getting mixed with sewage, and the authorities haven’t been able to figure out what the problem is.”
In the West Bank, Palestinians also face a water shortage. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), populations living in the West Bank get less than the suggested minimal water quotas.
Different gaps, shared stakes
While Israel appears to have largely figured out the water shortage conundrum, it needs to work on moving away from dependency on coal and oil in favor of renewable solar, gas, and wind energy.
And Palestinians in Gaza need everything from post-war stability to self-sustaining water, waste treatment, and energy systems.
Environmental experts who work across these countries have already drawn up a regional plan that could build a healthy interdependence, with all sides having something to gain, sell, or buy.
Termed IMEC (India Middle-East Europe Economic Corridor), or the Peace Triangle, the plan calls for the creation of an economic, ship-to-rail corridor from Mumbai to Europe via Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, Egypt, and Israel.
Key components of the plan include Jordan selling renewable energies to Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank; and the construction of a desalination plant in Gaza powered by those renewables that, in turn, would provide water for Gaza, the West Bank, and Jordan.
The initiative, according to EcoPeace, can be kickstarted by Saudi and Emirati investments and would allow Gaza’s rebuilt solar, hydrogen, and wind energy to be exported to Europe.
Lessons from history
This interdependence model isn’t new. In 1951, following World War II, six countries signed a coal and steel treaty, creating free movement of those precious commodities across Europe. The treaty fostered lasting peace by securing the signatories’ industrial needs.
“The level of animosity at the time between France and Germany was enormous,” EcoPeace co-founder and Israel director Gidon Bromberg told the Report. “But Germany had coal and France had steel, so the US forced them to cooperate.”
However, what worked in post-WW II Europe may not be so easily transferred to the perpetually unstable, conflict-riddled Middle East of today. Regional fiscal disparities, weak governance, weaponization of resources, and a lack of funding all play a part in stalling such well-intentioned initiatives.
A clear example of this is the IMEC Memorandum of Understanding signed by India, the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union at the G20 summit in New Delhi in September 2023.
The proposal was to build an ambitious transport, trade, and connectivity link between Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, which included railways and shipping routes that would make it faster and cheaper to move goods across continents.
Meant to strengthen economic cooperation, secure supply chains, boost trade accessibility, and help integrate these regions more closely into global commerce, that promising initiative was halted when the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October 2023. It has yet to be revived.
In addition to the geopolitical tensions, a 2025 report by Climate Policy Initiative notes that the Middle East, in comparison to East Asia, the Pacific, Western Europe, and North America, is consistently underfunded when it comes to climate change projects.
Saudi Arabia is leading and funding its own $2.5 billion Middle East Green Initiative to mitigate climate change and encourage regional cooperation, but concomitantly, it has also been labeled as “the biggest blocker of climate action,” as it works to safeguard its oil-export-dependent economy, according to a recent investigation by the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
Israel, which cites security matters as its main priority, falls behind other advanced countries in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to renewables, according to Galit Cohen, director general of Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry.
She believes there will be more droughts, heat waves, and extreme climate-linked weather events in Israel in the coming years as its failure to reach 2016 Paris Accords greenhouse emissions goals continues. The deadline for achieving these goals is 2030.
Jordan’s extreme water needs have not stopped its leaders from repeatedly freezing deals with Israel in response to the rolling conflict. Most recently, Jordan backed out of an energy-for-water deal in November 2023, with the country’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi declaring: “We will not sign this agreement… Can you imagine a Jordanian minister sitting next to an Israeli minister to sign a water and electricity agreement, all while Israel continues to kill children in Gaza?”
Despite these obvious obstacles, EcoPeace’s Tal remains optimistic that water-for-energy plans will eventually be implemented.
Where there is a need, there is a way.■