Dead Sea Fun

Side Trip to Glass Art Museum Arad

Glass Art Museum Arad - this museum showcases the dynamic and colorful world of glass art through the works of some 20 Israeli glass artists. In addition to the permanent exhibit of the local glass artist Gideon Friedman, the museum's founder, every few months the works of a different Israeli glass artist are displayed, as well as works by young Israeli students of glass art.

The museum features a guided tour, three display halls, a shop, a room where workshops are held and a reading room/library.

View the Website at Glass Art Museum Arad

UK Museum Attacked Over Links to Israeli Dead Sea Firm

(Reuters) - Experts at a leading British museum should pull out of a European-funded study into tiny particles because one of their partners is an Israeli company that operates in the occupied West Bank, British scientists and public figures said Tuesday.

More than a dozen scientists, some from leading British universities, wrote an open letter with film-makers Mike Leigh and Ken Loach calling on the Natural History Museum in London to stop working with Israel's Ahava, which makes skincare products from Dead Sea minerals.

Read the full article at Reuters.com

Steinitz Defends Dead Sea Salt Deal

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz on Thursday praised the agreement reached between the Treasury and Israel Chemicals on Dead Sea salt harvesting, saying he has no intention of taking any steps that would harm the business sector.

"As finance minister, my job is to increase the state's share in revenues from natural resources... while also ensuring that the entrepreneurs and investors receive their fair share of the profits," Steinitz said at an event marking the Association of Publicly Traded Companies' 20-year anniversary at Tel Aviv's Sheraton Hotel.

The Treasury-Israel Chemicals deal, which was approved by the government January 1, stipulates that ICL unit Dead Sea Works will contribute 80 percent of the total cost of a full salt harvest of the sea's southern portion.

The state's share of potash sales will rise from 5% to 10%, with the extra royalties to be designated to a Dead Sea rehabilitation fund.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Israel Chamber of Commerce pushes 'Med-Dead' Project

In light of the looming energy crisis and dwindling condition of the Dead Sea, Israel Chamber of Commerce President Uriel Lynn recently appealed to relevant ministers that they reexamine the idea of creating a canal between the Mediterranean and Dead seas.

Lynn sent a joint letter this week to Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan and Energy and Water Minister Dr. Uzi Landau, urging them to create a committee that would investigate the opportunities afforded by such a plan, according to his office.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Update 8th January - Dead Sea Petition Reaches 15,000 Signatures JerusalemPost.com

Environmental Advocates Blast Dead Sea Deal

Environmental and tourism proponents on Tuesday slammed the Dead Sea deal that the Finance Ministry made with Israel Chemicals last week.

The criticism came during a Knesset Finance Committee session being held on the issue a week and a half after the cabinet approved the deal, which stipulated that the company must pay for 80 percent of the southern basin's full salt harvest and increase royalty payments to the government from 5% to 10%. The salt must be harvested to prevent flooding that would endanger area hotels.

"The Dead Sea is not a bath full of minerals for the maximization of profits..." –Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Israel's Cabinet Again Rejects Dead Sea Bill

The cabinet rejected a bill for the second time that would provide for the comprehensive rehabilitation of the Dead Sea region, during a meeting on Monday.

"The Israeli government continues to stand by the side of the factories and to thwart any move that could save the Dead Sea and return it to its original owners – the public," said Adam Teva V'Din executive director, Amit Bracha, in a statement released by his office.

The bill, drafted by Adam Teva V'Din (Israel Union for Environmental Defense) and put forward by MK Dov Henin (Hadash), advocated a comprehensive Dead Sea rehabilitation plan, to help curb sinking water levels in the northern basin, preserve area resources and revamp the management structure overseeing mineral extraction.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Tour of the Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit

Join Yeshiva University Vice-Provost and world renown Dead Sea Scrolls expert, Dr. Lawrence Schiffman as he explores the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit.

Dead Sea Level Fell 26.5 Meters Since 1976

The level of the Dead Sea is continuing to drop. In early December it stood at 425.5 meters below sea level, 26.5 meters lower than October 1976, when the level began to fall.

In a few weeks the World Bank is to release the main points of a plan for a pipeline that would bring 1.2 billion cubic meters of water annually from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea through Jordan, in order to address the problem of the shrinking Dead Sea. The plan is contingent on the approval of Israel and Jordan as well as an environmental impact report.

Read the full article at Haaretz.com

Dead Sea Power Project

Could the ocean make pumped hydro power? In the Middle East, it could.

A brilliant proposal has been made to build a massive 2,400 MW sea water hydro project using the Mediterranean Sea, and the Dead Sea, which is below sea level. The Dead Sea Power Project would use the ocean to make hydro power, in a world first.

The ambition and scope of the project would be on a scale almost like terraforming Mars – and the environment is not much more hospitable.

Sea water has never been used in pumped hydro power, because sea water is all level at sea level, and hydro power requires higher reservoirs to work. Here's how this completely new way to make hydro power using an ocean would work.

Read the full article at GreenProphet.com

Groups File Petition Against Dead Sea Deal

Environmental advocacy group Adam Teva V'Din (Israel Union for Environmental Defense) and the Movement for Quality Government submitted a petition to the High Court on Tuesday morning, calling for cancellation of the recent agreement between the government and Israel Chemicals regarding the upcoming Dead Sea salt harvest and company royalty charges.

The agreement, approved by the cabinet on Sunday, stipulated that Israel Chemicals branch Dead Sea Works would be responsible for 80 percent, or NIS 3.04 billion, of the salt harvest in the southern basin of the Dead Sea. Meanwhile, royalties paid to the state on the company's potash sales would rise from 5% to 10%, with the extra money being allocated to a Dead Sea rehabilitation fund.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Update 8th January - Dead Sea Petition Reaches 15,000 Signatures JerusalemPost.com

Dead-Sea Sparrows: Birding in Israel

Adult males and females sighted at Neot Hakikar.

See the birds at Yoav Perlman's Birding in Israel Blog