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GV PAN Israeli flags and people on canal bank listening to band playing (2 shots)
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GV Sign
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SV and GV Begin speaking as crowd listen (5 shots)
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SV Crowd applauding
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SV Begin escorted to site
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Balloons flying TILT DOWN unveiling plaque (2 shots)
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SV Crowd applauding
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TRANSCRIPT:



BEGIN: (SEQ 3) One day, as I believe, (indistinct) Israel to the West of the Jordan river and Transjordan will live in confederation, in peace, in human dignity, in mutual respect...then, your Majesty, you will have a free port either in Haifa or Ashdod, at your own choice, and then your commodities go via the Jordan far to the east, then your own products will go the west to the Mediterranean, to Europe and further. This is the Israeli vision and it will be proved in the days to come, reality.





Initials PM





Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: INTRODUCTION: The first step in a 800-million-dollar project which will see electric power generated by a tunnel from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, was inaugurated by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on Thursday (28 May). This firm step consists of an exploratory geological bore into the earth near Mount Ben Yair.

SYNOPSIS: The project which aims to provide a 600-megawatt power station on the Dead Sea, powered by water pumped from the Mediterranean, has long been a dream of Israeli planners. And although full government permission to begin work has yet to be granted, Prime Minister Begin attended a ceremony to inaugurate the first exploratory work and made this call for cooperation to King Hussein of Jordan.

At present, large-scale earth-moving work on the project is forbidden and the decision to go ahead with the work will not now be taken until after Israel's general election next, month. However, Mr. Begin went on to unveil a plaque commemorating the site of the initial exploration. The power canal plan calls for the building of a number of reservoirs on Mount Ben Yair. They will be filled with Mediterranean water to feed a power station on the Dead Sea.