Pen-l, Hi. FYI on the conflict over water in the Middle East, reported by the BBC News. Seth _______ ____ ______ / |/ / /___/ / /_ // M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S / /|_/ / /_/_ / /\\ Making Sense of the Middle East /_/ /_/ /___/ /_/ \\� http://www.MiddleEast.Org News, Information, & Analysis That Governments, Interest Groups, and the Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know! * * * * * * * IF YOU DON'T GET MER, YOU JUST DON'T GET IT! To receive MER regularly email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] UPCOMING FROM MER THIS WEEKEND: The permanent "Settlement Freeze" agreed to at Camp David 1978 - What Went Wrong? WATER WARS MID-EAST REALITIES � - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 5/24: In the end its not really the "settlements" that will determine which civilization will prosper in the once Holy Land now so fought over by the descendants of Abraham. Control and use of WATER is even more at the heart of the conflict between the two competing societies. Just as with oil, the Arab states have had the power for a long time to make things much more difficult for the Israelis; and maybe even to have changed history forcing the Israelis to join the Middle East rather than insist on being a beachhead for Western colonialism. But such weak and co-opted states have not been able to leverage this potential power either. And now the Israelis are actually turning to a largely Muslim state, Turkey, to start importing water by ship. ISRAEL FACES WATER CRISIS ISRAEL'S WATER SUPPLIES ARE TOO LOW TO MEET DEMAND By Paul Wood in Jerusalem [BBC News, 23 May]: Israel is being warned that the country's water supplies are dangerously low, and it will have to accept drastic cuts in consumption. As fresh water supplies diminish, polluted water from pools deeper underground is drawn upwards, making the reserves undrinkable Israeli Water Commissioner Shimon Tal is expected to call for a total ban on watering lawns for the next three years and for a 10% cut in the supply to industry. But the issue is politically charged and linked to the wider dispute over Palestinian statehood. In the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians run local government but Israel still controls most of the water resources. Accusations The Palestinians accuse Israel of diverting water away from their towns to keep Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories fully supplied. Dispute over water resources has been a fact of life in the West Bank since the land was occupied by Israel in 1967 They say they have to watch Jewish settlers hosing down lawns and filling swimming pools while in some Palestinian areas, people have to manage on less than half the daily minimum for health and sanitation laid down by the World Health Authority. Israel traditionally denies it is responsible for such dire shortages, saying Palestinian farmers are to blame for using illegal connections to irrigate their fields. But there is no doubt that subterranean water reserves are steadily shrinking as the demands of two fast-growing societies outpace natural replenishment by rivers and rainfall. Desalination And as fresh water supplies diminish, polluted water from pools deeper underground is drawn upwards, making the reserves undrinkable. The only real solution, experts agree, is to create more fresh water. Water is a contentious issue in the Middle East For the long term, Israel says that countries throughout the region could find plentiful supplies through water desalination - a solution which would benefit Gaza which could expect to be close to one of the proposed new desalination plants. And as a short term emergency measure, Israel might import water from Turkey using specially converted oil tanker ships - although this is worrying to Arab countries already alarmed at the close military ties developing between Turkey and Israel. Dispute over water resources has been a fact of life in the West Bank since the land was occupied by Israel in 1967. The Palestinians say that Israel will try to keep hold of the reserves beneath the bedrock there - it is just another of the complex problems still to be solved in any final peace agreement. ---------------------------------- MiD-EasT RealitieS - http://www.MiddleEast.Org Phone: 202 362-5266 Fax: 815 366-0800 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with subject SUBSCRIBE To unsubscribe email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with subject UNSUBSCRIBE _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
