Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 17)
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- Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 17)
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checkpoint at Barbara, 37 km. north of
Beirut, where they levy taxes on all lor-
ries entering from the nationalist- con-
trolled North. South from Beirut, they are
unwilling to give up their direct link with
the Israeli occupation forces. They also
refuse to accept the fact that the plan
goes hand in hand with the nationalists’
demands of political and social reforms.
The Phalangists and _ Isolationist
forces’ real position vis a vis the plan is
one of maneuvering. They are trying to
manipulate it in such a way that can
obtain for them the maximum amount of
concessions from the nationalists while
they themselves offer none. Also, Amin
Gemayel himself is not far from this
maneuvering position especially after
the death of his father, the head of the
Phalangist Party. He certainly hopes to
be the replacement of his father some
years ahead. This ambition requires him
to prove his good intentions and that he
Pursues the phalange class interests
diligently. This means that Amin
Gemayel would have to prove that he is
not a man of concessions.
The Lebanese nationalist forces
are confronting such maneuvers with a
firm stand from within the government as
well as outside channels. A series of
exclusive ministerial meetings are now
in progress. The discussions will be
mainly around the nationalists’ demands
of achieving the political and social
reforms along with the implementation
of the security plan. A compromise may
be reached at these meetings. But it is
quite doubtful that a real and lasting sol-
ution can be reached at this time. Hence,
we do not exclude the possibility of new
rounds of fighting which may even be on
a large scale.
...And the Rivers Don't Run Free
In a recent interview, «Al Fajr» correspondent asked an Israeli youth working at a kibbutz on the West
Bank, where the Arabs were supposed to be. The youth, who claimed not to have anything against the
Arabs, pointed to the barren desert outside the kibbutz and said, more bitterly true than probably
intended: «Look, there is plenty of room for all of us». The Zionist policy has been to either expel the Arab
population to the desert, or by diverting most of the water to their settlements and putting draconian
restrictions on Arab use of water, turning Arab land into desert. Access to and control of water has
figured as a primary strategic factor from the beginning of the Zionist project, through wars and occupa-
tions, to the latest Israeli attempt to divert water from rivers in occupied South Lebanon.
Recently Minister of State for South Lebanon, Nabih Berri
stated that ‘Israel’ has «carved out» chunks of Lebanese terri-
tory near the Israeli border. including parts of the Wazzani river.
The Lebanese government has asked the United Nation
Forces in South Lebanon to investigate a report stating that ‘Is-
rael’ has fenced out a Lebanese creek flowing into ‘Israel’.
Timur Goksel, a spokesman for the UN Forces in South Leba-
non, has confirmed that Prime Minister Rashid Karami’s gov-
ernment has made this request. Goksel, however, said that UN
observers have not yet been able to check the report because
‘Israel’ has refused to allow them to enter the area in question.
On Monday, July 13th, the Beirut newspaper A/ Safir said the
Israelis recently moved their border forward «3 to 5 kilomet-
ers» and fenced off parts of the Wazzani creek. The news-
paper added that the Israelis had prevented residents of Tal
Nahhas village from returning to their hgmes in the reportedly
fenced off area. Already in 1980 UN observers reported that
the Israelis erected a fence one kilometer north of the border,
an area which included two rivers. That area was near the vil-
lage of Wazzani wnich lies on the Lebanese side of the borders
facing Syrian Golan Heights. ‘Israel’ occupied the Golan
Heights in 1967 and later annexed it. The small Wazzani creek
flows into the Hasbani river which rises in Lebanon and flows
south into the Golan and eventually to the Jordan River of
which ‘Israel’ occupied the West Bank also in 1967. The new
fence, reported Al Safir, would appear to be an extension of the
1980 fence.
Through the last two years Israeli spokesmen have con-
stantly denied that ‘Israel’ attaches any importance to the
water resources in Lebanon, Syria or elsewhere. Comments
from ‘Israel’ and its proxy in South Lebanon, the Lahad army,
on the question of the Wazzani river have been contradictory.
According to Reuters an officer in the Lahad army stated that
the fence in question had been dismantled at the request of
Antoine Lahad who believed it violated Lebanese sovereignty.
An Israeli spokesman in Tel Aviv however said that the fence
was part of a road repair project. Without explaining whether
they were describing this interesting new Israeli method of
repairing roads, Reuters explained that a line of holes indi-
cated that the Israelis had intended to extend the fence at least
two kilometers further northwards towards another spring that
feeds into another river.
It does not seem as if the Israelis have stopped their ‘en-
gineering’. On August 14th, the Israeli daily Haaretz revealed
a plan prepared by the Israeli authorities to pump the Hasbani
river waters to Israeli territories. Israeli engineers have worked
out a plan to obtain Hasbani river waters from the point where
the river passes in occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Hasbani
waters, the paper added, will be used to generate electricity as
the water of the Lebanese river comes down from the Syrian
Golan Heights to Lake Tiberias. On Wednesday, August the
22nd, Secretary General of the Arab League, Al Chadli Qlibi,
said that new reports from South Lebanon stress «Israel's»
covetousness of South Lebanon's water resources particularly
those of the Litani river.
How the Israelis got «their» water
Even excluding their usurpation of Palestine and its water,
the Israelis mainly got «their» water by gunpower, pressure,
intimidation, occupation and theft. Already in 1919 they
realized that the area around the Mount Hermon, the closeby
headwaters of the Jordan river and the Litani were where ‘Is-
rael’ could and should obtain water. For a long time they
studied how to exploit a dam on the Hasbani river and the pos-
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