(The Guardian) Israel, Lebanon and Iraq team up to tackle global heating
In a rare example of climate change concerns taking priority over political hostility, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq have agreed along with other nations to work together to tackle global heating, according to the New Arab website and other reports.
Israel is still officially at war with Lebanon and bans its citizens from having any contact with Israelis, while Israel and Iraq have no diplomatic relations due to a history of hostilities. “The countries of the region share the warming and drying climate and just as they share the problems they can and must share the solutions. No country can stand alone in the face of the climate crisis,” said Tamar Zandberg, Israel’s outgoing environmental protection minister.
However, the office of Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati, played down any wider significance of the meeting at Cop27, saying it was attended by a large number of Arab and international officials: “There was no contact whatsoever with any Israeli official.”
The Haaretz newspaper said that, according to sources, this is the first high-level regional meeting on climate change that Israel is taking part in.
Israel and Jordan also signed a memorandum of understanding at Cop27 to move ahead with their water-for-energy deal, first announced a year ago. In the proposal, Jordan will build 600 megawatts of solar power capacity to export electricity to Israel in exchange for 200 million cubic meters of desalinated water.
In a rare example of climate change concerns taking priority over political hostility, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq have agreed along with other nations to work together to tackle global heating, according to the New Arab website and other reports.
Israel is still officially at war with Lebanon and bans its citizens from having any contact with Israelis, while Israel and Iraq have no diplomatic relations due to a history of hostilities. “The countries of the region share the warming and drying climate and just as they share the problems they can and must share the solutions. No country can stand alone in the face of the climate crisis,” said Tamar Zandberg, Israel’s outgoing environmental protection minister.
However, the office of Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati, played down any wider significance of the meeting at Cop27, saying it was attended by a large number of Arab and international officials: “There was no contact whatsoever with any Israeli official.”
The Haaretz newspaper said that, according to sources, this is the first high-level regional meeting on climate change that Israel is taking part in.
Israel and Jordan also signed a memorandum of understanding at Cop27 to move ahead with their water-for-energy deal, first announced a year ago. In the proposal, Jordan will build 600 megawatts of solar power capacity to export electricity to Israel in exchange for 200 million cubic meters of desalinated water.
