Mediterranean–Dead Sea Canal in 1855 in a work called 'The Dead Sea – A new route to India'. At that time it was not yet known that the Dead Sea lies below sea level, and Allen proposed this canal as an alternative to the Suez Canal. Later, many engineers and politicians picked up on the idea, including Theodor Herzl in his 1902 novel "Altneuland". Most of the early proposals used the East bank of the Jordan River, but a modified form, using the West bank, was proposed after the separation of Transjordan from the Palestine Mandate. The idea was discussed at some length
Dead Sea products consumers and human rights groups have endorsed boycotts of Dead Sea products and other materials made in or along the West Bank of the Dead Sea, citing concerns such as blatant violation of human rights in Israel or of certain companies being "economically linked to Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.” Dead Sea products Dead Sea products refers to cosmetic products based on materials extracted from the Dead Sea, such as salt, mud, and potash. Ziva Gilad, a spa technician, came up with the idea of marketing Dead Sea mud after watching women tourists scooping up the mud to