The solutions to both can be found in nuclear energy at present. For the former, a local nuclear war will reduce the population, not to mention make the region unlivable. Or it can be used to distill water from the Mediterranean, and/or the Red Sea.
In addition, there are plans afoot to build canals from either/or the Read Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, which is disappearing, a la the Aral Sea in Russia
http://tinyurl.com/5os8m
The original plans called for the generation of electricity as the water from either source drops into the depression occupied by the Dead Sea. But the changing realities are beginning to place more empahsis on desalination on a massive scale. This calls for equally massive energy sources - sources that can only be met today by nuclear energy.
Considering that Dick Cheney wants to build some 400 nuc-u-lar reactors in the US, it shouldn't come as a surprise that other countries would like to follow in their own ways.
Note: http://tinyurl.com/yo35ud
http://tinyurl.com/5os8m

---
Expect little from life and get more from it.
---
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
-Max Planck
---
Expect little from life and get more from it.