President Johnson has expressed the wish that plans for the establishment of a water desalination plant in Israel – a joint American-Israeli effort – enter the practical stages before he leaves office next January, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol was informed today. The message was delivered to the Israeli leader by George Woods, President Johnson’s personal representative, who is presiding at a conference of American and Israeli experts on the exploitation of water resources. Mr. Woods, a former president of the World Bank, was received by Mr. Eshkol along with other members of the American mission – Milton Chase, Dr. Dean Peterson and Prof. Paul Macavoy. The United States Ambassador, Walworth Barbour, was also present.
The meeting on the desalination project is the resumption of talks that started 18 months ago but were interrupted by the Arab-Israeli war in June, 1967. Today’s session lasted 90 minutes. The American experts will spend the next two days visiting possible sites for what is envisaged as a nuclear powered desalination plant and will then settle down to intensive discussions with the Israelis on technical matters and the problems of financing. Israel had been reluctant to go ahead with the scheme because of the uneconomical cost of desalinated water if funds are not made available at favorable terms.
Jerusalem today is the site of the first international conference on water development and usage to be held outside of the United States or Europe. Some 300 delegates from 35 countries are attending.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
