A guide for the perplexed

[webofevil]

Given its chronic shortage of water, even the small saving gained by depriving Arab villages helps Israel, and water also played its part in the remarkable Israeli offer to give the Gaza Strip back to the Arabs – if anyone could be found to take it. A senior Israeli minister made the suggestion at the end of 1992, after an upsurge of violence by Hamas, the Islamic movement. No Israeli minister, Likud or Labour, has ever suggested returning the West Bank. The difference between the two areas is plain: Gaza is desperately short of water, a liability, while the West Bank provides Israel with water.

John Bulloch & Adel Darwish, Water Wars - Coming Conflicts in the Middle East, 1993

Comments

[lowlowprices.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah? So how come all the lawns in those settlments were so lush? Eh? Ever thought about that?

So when are Turkey and Iraq going to go to war over water?

[webofevil.livejournal.com]

> Oh yeah? So how come all the lawns in those settlments were so lush? Eh? Ever thought about that?

From the same chapter: "Israel itself has not hesitated to use water as an instrument of policy, particularly in relation to the Arab populaton of Israel and the people living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. Its habit of severely restricting Palestinian use of water while allowing its own settlers to have much larger supplies is not merely a case of favouring its own; an unstated but well understood Israeli policy is to induce as many Palestinians as possible to leave their homes. The far right in Israel speaks openly of 'transfer', of forcing Palestinians out; the Likud did not acknowledge that this was its policy, but followed it in practice; Labour does not favour such a solution, but cannot always control all the soldiers and officials who administer the Occupied Territories."


> So when are Turkey and Iraq going to go to war over water?

The more Turkey dams up the Tigris and Euphrates in the south-east to try and stifle the Kurds, the more miffed Iraq and Syria will become. And not without reason.

Other exciting water conflicts to watch out for:

Iraq vs Jordan
Jordan vs Israel
Israel vs Lebanon
Israel vs Egypt
Egypt vs Sudan
Egypt vs Ethopia
Egypt vs Libya
Turkey vs the entire Arab peninsula
Yemen vs entropy*

* Its ancient systems for preserving the land and its water have worked for thousands of years. Now, however, the necessary skills have been all but lost, as no young people want to learn about it - they're all off playing X-Box or plotting a feverish international jihad. Without due maintenance Yemeni land is rapidly losing too much of its topsoil, and it wasn't exactly a verdant rainforest to begin with. It's in serious trouble.

[ex-cornfedpi814.livejournal.com]

Isn't this the world cup qualifying schedule for the Middle Eastern group?

[lowlowprices.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, interesting. Have you been reading The Independent again? So how come Israel's been allowed to do all this for decades and yet no one seems to mind or do anything about it? (This is fun - I can keep throwing these up for you as long as you like, you know.)