River Runs Through Mideast Dispute Israelis Angered by Lebanon's Plan to Divert Water for Parched Hamlets
Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, October 2, 2002; Page A11 WAZZANI, Lebanon -- A 22-inch pipe plunges into a spring along the Wazzani River in southern Lebanon, meant soon to siphon water for delivery to nearby hamlets and help make the parched landscape bloom. Lebanese boys leap off the pipe for a cool swim, creating an innocent-looking scene of fun under the hot Middle Eastern sun. But the Wazzani River flows from Lebanon south into Israel, and the pipe's recent appearance, along with unrelated earthworks, has prompted a round of regional tension. Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, said Lebanon's plans to pump water from the Wazzani could become grounds for war because the pumping would deprive Israel of water from the river. A former Israeli water commissioner said Israel could solve the problem with "a few tank shells." Lebanon's government has insisted it is well within its rights to draw water from the river. Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim movement whose militia controls southern Lebanon's frontier, dared Israel to interfere. Syria, one of Hezbollah's backers, promised unspecified support if the tensions erupt. Tensions are nothing new here. Israeli troops withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000 after a 22-year occupation. Since then, violence has occasionally broken out over a disputed patch of border territory known as Shebaa Farms, with Hezbollah bullets and rockets flying one way and Israeli bullets and bombs the other. full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29916-2002Oct1.html Louis Proyect www.marxmail.org
