Muhammad Mohsen Wad-Occupied Jerusalem

While Israeli media have reported on joint water and energy projects between Tel Aviv and Cairo, security and strategic research institutes have dealt deeply with Israel's ambitions to penetrate Africa and the Nile Basin countries in light of the Renaissance Dam crisis.

With Ethiopian Prime Minister Abe Ahmed, who has a close relationship with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, insisting on the construction of the Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, fears emerged in Egypt, which sought Israeli mediation with Addis Ababa to avoid the possibility of facing a crisis of historic proportions.

The increasing water shortage in recent decades has forced Egypt to face a variety of challenges arising from this issue and seek solutions. According to Israeli researchers, Egypt and Israel have demonstrated their expertise in promoting issues that are not directly related to security, especially when it comes to important economic interests.

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Expand normalization
Analysts agree that Egypt's openness to foreign aid in dealing with its water crisis, coupled with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's practical line on the issue, creates the possibility of expanding normalization between Tel Aviv and Cairo.

They believe that Tel Aviv is using the Renaissance Dam crisis to strengthen its influence in Africa and its alliance with the Sisi regime, by employing Israeli knowledge in the fields of water management, recycling, desalination and desert agriculture, as it has the ability to cooperate in various fields that may contribute to deepening peace relations between the two countries.

Regarding the project of supplying Israel with Nile water through channels and lines from Sinai, Dr. Ophir Fintal, a researcher at the National Security Research Institute at Tel Aviv University, reviewed the proposal of the late President Anwar Sadat after signing the Camp David agreement. To bring "hearts" between the two peoples.

Although Sadat's proposal was a joke, he believes that the regional conditions today offer both countries an opportunity to revive this vision and the idea that was reserved in Cairo, noting that Israel should encourage the initiative and work in the field of water with the relevant government ministries, to Alongside private companies and entrepreneurs.

He explained that the participation of Tel Aviv and Cairo to other regional players such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-Egyptian projects in the fields of water and energy, may add value to them and increase the chances of success.

According to the Israeli researcher, once the dam, which was built in 2013, will be the largest dam in Africa, it could have a major impact on the water supply in Egypt. About 90% of the Nile water flowing downstream is from Egypt The Blue Nile, where the annual share of Egypt's water of the Nile River 55 billion cubic meters, while Sudan receives 18.5 billion.

Dr. Eran Lerman, deputy director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic and Security Studies, believes that the Renaissance Dam issue is one of the most complex regional dynamic issues that pose the most significant challenges to the stability of the Sisi regime in Egypt.

The Renaissance Dam may put the fate of the 1929 Nile Water Agreement in front of many questions, and Lerman is likely that through international mediation in Ethiopia and tripartite talks between Cairo, Khartoum and Addis Ababa in Washington, Sisi is striving to create a more friendly atmosphere with Ethiopia over the future of the dam.

Contrary to the position of the late President Mohamed Morsi, who threatened war and the use of military force to ensure the national water security of Egypt if Ethiopia to prevent the flow of water in the river, Lerman said that "Sisi military focused on the diplomatic track to initiate talks on filling the reservoir of the dam." To assess the impact of this unilateral move by Addis Ababa.

According to observers, Egypt has asked for Israel's help to resolve the file of the thorny Renaissance Dam (Reuters)


Unique setting
With regard to water supplies in Egypt, Israel is in a unique position to provide support and assistance. Tel Aviv has already cooperated with Cairo on agricultural development issues before. The solutions are Israeli desalination and recycling projects in Sinai and the Red Sea. Any opposition to this can be overcome under the pretext of normalization with Israel, through third-party mediation and with the help of Mediterranean cooperation initiatives, Lerman said.

Israel has entered the conflict over the Nile in Africa, taking advantage of regional changes, said Moshe Tardeman, a researcher at the Mitvim Institute for Middle East Policy on Israel, who is likely to have asked Tel Aviv to intervene with Addis Ababa to settle and maintain Egypt's annual quota. Of river water.

According to the Israeli researcher, the third and final battle between the Nile Basin countries - Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia - is underway, and Cairo has asked Tel Aviv to exert influence on Ethiopia and help it resolve the crisis.

Tardyman asserts that Israel's position in the Nile Basin and the Red Sea is better than ever. One level secret contacts with all Red Sea countries, except Yemen.