In January 2000, Turkey and Israel signed a deal to that allowed
Israel to purchase up to 50 million cubic meters of Turkish water annually over the next decade. The water, from the
Manavgat River, would be transported to Israel's Askhelon port by ships. The water agreement should help Israel cover rougly five percent of its annual water needs.
In August 2002, the two countries built on their initial water agreement by signing a groundbreaking deal that
will have Turkey export 1.75 billion cubic feet of water
from its Manavgat River to Israel each year for the next
20 years.
The deal, which will be worth approximately
$800 million “will create a new reality
in the region,” Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres said. “I hope that Turkey will be the major
supplier of water to the region.”
The water deal was signed during a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and visiting Turkish Energy and Natural Resources
Minister Zeki Cakan.
In March 2004, Israel signed yet another
deal with Turkey to buy 50
million cubic meters of water each year for the next two decades. The agreement was due to be implemented in 2006, but was put on hold due to the need to use the tankers and pipelines for the project to ship oil, and was eventually abandoned alltogether.