Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 19)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 19)
- المحتوى
-
Gaza Strip refugee camps/SF photo
to make him agree to declare himself the saviour of the Maro-
nite population. Then the Israeli army will enter Lebanon, will
occupy the necessary territory and will create a Christian
regime which will ally itself with Israel. The territory from the
Litani southwards will be totally annexed by Israel» (from «|Is-
rael’s Sacred Terrorism» by Livia Rokach). The creation of the
Haddad - now the Lahad - militia was the first step in the reali-
zation of that idea, the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the fulfill-
ment, though ‘Israel’ did not succeed in creating its allied
Christian regime in Lebanon. 1983 was flooded with eyewit-
ness reports stating Israeli attempts to make use of the Litani
waters. As usual, UNIFIL forces were prevented from confirm-
ing or denying the reports, as Saad Haddad had denied them
passage to the area, because ‘Israel’ had declared the Khar-
dali area a «military zone» and blocked all civilian access to it.
Any connection to the recent Israeli fencing of the Waz-
zani/Hasbani rivers? It would be possible to divert the Hasbani
river and so also the Wazzani into the Litani, and with a bit of
work divert the Litani river waters into ‘Israel’. And as Reuters
stated, the Israelis had made engineering work which seemed
to aim directly to «another river». If the Israelis lack any
scruples about international laws, this could easily be done. So
far Israeli politics have not been marked by any scruples in this
respect.
‘Israel’ has jumped quickly and boldly from one Arab river
to the next implementing their «water sharing policy» as they
call it as quickly as possible.
Consequences of Israeli «water sharing»
It is impossible to cover all the consequences of Israeli so-
called water sharing even in a fairly large book, the subject is
apt for a doctorate thesis. Even when using the West Bank as
an example, we are far from covering the topic, we are just giv-
ing a few examples. Israeli policy is designed to ensure water
for the Israeli settlements. «The Arabs in Judea and Samaria
will not get more water than they have today», Moshe Dayan
remarked in the course of negotiations with the US over Israeli
«autonomy» proposals. Water Commissioner Ben-Meir has
insisted that even joint administration of the West Bank water
under «autonomy» is not enough. ‘Israel’, he maintains, must
retain sole control over water sources and even have a Say in
any Arab immigration to the West Bank. Virtually no deep dril-
ling is permitted to the Palestinians there, and the deep drilling
of the Israeli authorities dries up the wells of the Palestinians.
Since the occupation 12 Palestinian irrigation wells have run
dry, while many others, especially in the Jordan Valley, are
plagued by a declining water table and increased salinity.
Since the occupation began, not a single Palestinian village
has received permission to drill a well for irrigation. Irrigation
wells have been metered and stiff fines imposed on Palesti-
nians who exceed posted limits. Settlements are of course not
restricted. Early in the occupation the Israeli army destroyed
some 140 Palestinian water pumps in the Zor strip along the
Jordan River. When the American Near East Refugee Aid
(ANERA) program offered to replace dirty canals with pipes in
one area in order to double the efficiency of water use, permis-
sion was refused. In the Jordan Valley the Israeli water plan
calls for an, eventual total of 36 wells which will extract half of
the available ground water in the eastern drainage for the 23
settlements. This at a time where the several thousand Pale-
stinian inhabitants are threatened by ever dwindling water
supplies.
Statistics don’t bleed, but people do. Lack of running water
in the Palestinian villages is a major reason for the high infant
mortality of the Palestinian population in the West Bank
(29.1% of 1000 live births). The lack of running water forces
the population to cut water for washing the children and clean-
ing the food. The Palestinians depend largely on spring water,
and local scientists have yielded results showing serious con-
tamination in the sources of natural water. Palestinian health
professionals charge the military government with not securing
running water to most of the Palestinian villages and towns,
while making it available for the new Jewish settlements con-
structed in the midst of Arab areas. Many Palestinians, faced
with the situation of lacking even drinking water, can see
Jewish settlers a few miles away happily swimming in modern
swimming pools.
It is not a question of seeing the writing on the wall, the
warning is engraved in the lived reality on the West Bank, Gaza
and Golan, and the Israelis do not at all seem to want to treat
the population of South Lebanon any better than they have
treated the Palestinians and Syrians. There can be little doubt
that the only way of securing Lebanese waters is to throw the
Israelis out. Hence the armed struggle and resistance must
continue in order that the people and their resources can be
freed from Zionist exploitation and occupation.
Additional sources:
Joe Storke, «Water and Israel's Occupation Strategy»,
MERIP Report, July-August 1983.
John Cooley, «The Hydraulic Imperative», Al Fajr, August 5,
1983. r
19 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 6
- تاريخ
- نوفمبر ١٩٨٤
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Position: 73770 (1 views)