T.V.A. On the Jordan Proposals for Irrigation and Hydro-Electric Development in Palestine

Revitalizing the Jordan Valley using methods perfected by the T.V.A.

“It was while making an airplane survey of Palestine in 1939 that I was struck by the possibility of a great power project based upon the extraordinary difference in altitudes between the deep rift of the Jordan Valley and the Mediterranean Sea only a few miles away. A Jordan Valley Authority, I became convinced after further study, would, through full utilization of the Jordan Valley depression and adjoining drainage areas for reclamation and power, in time provide farms, industry and security for more than three million new settlers over and above the 1,800,000 Arabs and Jews already residing in Palestine and Transjordan.” [James Hays, pg. vi]

This ambitious report outlines a proposed scheme to develop the Jordan Valley in Palestine using methods developed by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the United States during the Great Depression. It was written by James Hays and published by Public Affairs Press in Washington, D.C. in 1948.

Hays, former project manager of the T.V.A. at Bristol, Tennessee, was a surveyor and engineer with over thirty years of experience in construction and hydroelectric design. His first report on the development Transjordan region was first prepared, after over two years of effort, and published in 1946. It was updated and re-issued two years later to correspond with the end of the British Mandate of Palestine;

“Never was a project more timely than the JVA is now, with its detailed and scientifically tested scheme for the multiplication of Palestine’s absorptive capacity to the point where the country as a whole will be able to provide food and work for an additional population as of many as three million.” [pg. x]

The report’s 114 pages outline an eight-stage plan to boost Palestine’s industrial and agricultural output through a series of dams, canals, and power plants situated throughout the Jordan Valley. Detailed descriptive text, tables of financial data, charts and diagrams, photographs of prospective construction sites, and several folding maps are included with the volume. Of particular interest is a folding map of Palestine, approximately 13.75″ x 27.75″, that highlights the stages of construction and shows the various components of the plan.

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