Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 18)
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- Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 18)
- المحتوى
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sibilities of diverting the headwaters of the Jordan southwards
to ‘Israel’. .
After the 1967 June war, the Israelis immediately placed
much of the Mount Hermon basin and the entire West Bank
under their control. This enabled ‘Israel’ to divert most of these
fresh waters to irrigation in ‘Israel’ and to their settlements in_
the Jordan Valley, leaving mostly the saline drain waters to be
discharged from Lake Tiberias into the river's natural channel.
They conquered the Yarkow and the Crocodile - the sources of
up to 40% of the water used in ‘Israel’. The Golan’s own water
resources are not significant, but the commanding position of
the Golan over the Mount Hermon basin and the Jordan head-
waters secured ‘Israel’ 400 million cubic meters of water for
use elsewhere. This amount roughly coincides with the
increase in Israeli water consumption since the mid 60s.
In the 1967 war ‘Israel’ captured the Banias in Syria and
set the stage tactically and geographically for its later push into
Lebanon to seize the Litani river, finally carried out in June
1982. By the end of its temporary incursion of 1978 into South
Lebanon, ‘Israel’ controlled all the Jordan headwaters includ-
ing the Wazzani, and had placed Major Haddad’s militia men in
charge of the other aquifirs, springs and rivulets which either
feed into ‘Israel’ or can be made to do so.
This vast amount of stolen water matches some of the
ambitious aspirations of the Zionist movement in 1919. In fact,
the two blue lines of the Israeli flag symbolize the Nile and the
Euphrates, the Zionist state claims that this area definitely
belongs to «Eretz Israel».
The constant Israeli water shortage
The constant Israeli water shortage cannot be understood
without relating this to the nature of the Israeli state. The settle-
ment policy, another word for expansionism, drives it continu-
ously to seek more water and more resources generally.
Geographically speaking, occupied Palestine represents
a point of transition between the relatively moist climate of
Lebanon and the arid conditions of the Negev and the Sinai
deserts. The country’s water resources are not manifold and
85% are concentrated north of Tel Aviv. However, at the time
‘Israel’ was established in 1948, water usage stood at 350 mil-
lion cubic meters, just over 20% of estimated capacity. At the
moment ‘Israel’ is using 95% of its potential capacity, the
potential in this case including the stolen waters from the
above mentioned areas. ‘Israel’ uses about 5 times as much
water as its neighbouring countries.
The Israeli colonization plan for the Golan envisages a
population of 50,000 by 1985 consuming 46 million cubic me-
ters of water yearly - a 300% increase over the total consump-
tion which had supported a Syrian population twice that size in
1967 (93% of the 100,000 Syrians in the Golan were expelled
to Syria in 1967).
According to Israeli authorities domestic consumption
needs will rise between 500 and 700 million cubic meters per
year over the next decade. Since present resources are fully
exploited and technological alternatives are too expensive to
contemplate on a large scale in this time span, the Israelis will
either have to steal water from beyond its present borders, or
shift a third of the amount of water now used in the agricultural
sector to domestic and municipal consumption. Considering
the effects of the deep Israeli economic crisis and the nucleus
of Israeli policy being settlements and kibbutzim, there is no
way they can consider such a shift. So where is all the water
going to come from?
18
The Litani
When confronted with accusations of attempting to steal
waters from the Litani, Israeli leaders as Ariel Sharon have
tried to show lack of interest, referring to the river as «barely a
trickle». Yet if ‘Israel’ starts to divert Litani water, Lebanese
water engineers estimate they could take about 100 million
cubic meter a year (from the 700 million cubic meters the
«trickle» produces). This would meet current Israeli water
needs. This could be done by diverting Litani water through a
tunnel bored from the Israeli side, passing almost directly
under the Lebanese village Kfar Kela and emerging deep inthe
Litani gorge below Deir Mimas, just before the river bends
westwards. To secure this diversion, ‘Israel’ would have to stay
in Lebanon, and hold at least the entire Beka’a valley south of
the Damascus road to protect Lake Karaoun from attacks and
preempt Lebanese use of the water.
Too far-fetched? Zionist history is full of examples proving
that Zionist rulers did not consider the idea ‘far-fetched’ at all.
For instance Moshe Sharret, former Israeli Prime Minister,
noted in his diary in 1955 «According to him (Moshe Dayan)
the only thing that is necessary is to find an officer, even just a
major. We should either win his heart or buy him with money,
Children splash in a main water source in Al Ouja village, o¢cupied Palestine
Women collect water from the spring at Ain Arik village, occupied Palestine.
Palestinian health professionals charge the military government with not secur-
ing running water to the villages or most of the West Bank towns, and instead
making it immediately available to the new Jewish settlements constructed in
the midst of Arab areas. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 6
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- المنشئ
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