The World Bank and the government are co-sponsoring a public hearing Sunday on the proposed project to bring water via a canal from the Red Sea to the receding Dead Sea. Similar hearings have been held in Jordan, Jericho and Ramallah.

Environmentalists are concerned that an inflow of water from the Red Sea would change the color of the Dead Sea. They also fear that replenishing the Dead Sea would promote so much tourism that the area would be harmed.