Nothing, it seems, including the security measures taken by Israel, is as aggravating to Palestinians –or is as crucial to their future as a people or as a nation—than the availability of potable water.
We were collectively invited for lunch a few days ago by a family in Beit Jallah, a highly contested piece of real estate adjacent to Bethlehem. Beit Jallah occupies high ground (on a clear day they say you can see Jordan), and as this is held as desirable by the Israelis, a good piece of the town has been declared by the Israelis as Zone C. That is, it is under the direct control of Israel. Although firmly in the West Bank, and thus technically in the administrative sphere of the Palestinian Authority, the PA has little to say about anything here—it's a situation where they have some responsibility but no authority. An example would be policing. This unfortunate dichotomy can be found throughout the West Bank.
Upon arrival, I was sitting with the host, a genial man with experience in balancing between Israeli and Palestinian wonderlands, and he was telling me about the features of his apartment that overlooks the city. One of the first things he mentioned was its capacity and technology for holding potable water. For, as in many parts of the West Bank, water distribution by pipe is completely in the hands of the Israelis, and they restrict his apartment, and many other Palestinians, to a few hours of water per day. What he finds so incredible and unjust in this is that the water is out of the Palestinian aquifer in the first place. In his view, and held by almost all Palestinians, their water is being stolen and then sold back to them. It's not cheap, either. To fill his apartment building's reservoir costs almost 50 NIS a cubic meter. And you don't drink it. Some countries pay less for fuel oil.
I'm reminded of a similar situation in Belgium, where Walloons hold that their region provides Flanders with a crucial water supply. They say this is not recognized by Flanders as a real contribution by Wallonia to the general good of the nation. They consider "their" water a counter to Flemish gripes that Flanders, in turn, funds much of the social cost of Wallonia.
Water is a finite resource in the Middle East and this is certainly true with Palestine. Israel has industrialized the local agriculture business and imported millions of new consumers, collectively putting a strain on water supplies and resources. And more, this demand is asymmetrical: by estimates, one Israeli national on average consumes three times the amount of water used by a Palestinian. This is not because he spends more time in the shower; it recognizes Israel's commercial and agricultural use of water for exportable cash crops. But, whether by nature or by necessity, it is clear that the Palestinians exercise greater conservation.
The Israelis have taken charge of all utilities in the West Bank, including water treatment and distribution, sewage treatment and collection, electricity generation and distribution, fuels, communication trunks, etc. The Palestinians are increasingly dependent upon Israeli for many of the most essential aspects of daily life. In Beit Jallah, it may be as great a problem for my friend to get rid of his sewage as it is to get water. There is no sewer collection, and septic tanks and leach fields are over used, threatening ground water. Either way, life for him will not get easier or cheaper. This trend toward dependency—and exploitation—was observable twenty years ago, and the practice is almost complete today.
The control of water is to master the fate of those dependent upon it. Many believe the entire reason for past Israeli incursions into Lebanon was to attempt control of water, and that future wars are inevitable to assure new sources. Be that as it may, there is no doubt in my mind that Israeli control of the Golan is fundamental to their control of the headwaters of the Jordan, which feeds much of the northern, fertile Galilee, and which is ultimately the source of the Sea of Galilee, the primary reservoir for the industrial and populated central costal region.
We visited Galilee, and the three primary sources of the Jordan River in the Golan Heights. Taken from Syria in the 1967 war, the intervening 43 years has seen the almost complete integration of the Golan into Israeli. They've made a national park out of a good part of the region. They even have a cute little goat as a mascot if you're into that sort of thing. It is a beautiful place and well worth the visit. Not too many foreigners come to the Golan but it's popular with Israelis. There is lots of military hardware around and old Syrian camps, mostly in ruins (but not all, a Syrian NCO club is now a Lebanese restaurant), but for the most part, you could be anywhere else in Israel. If there are souls out there that think the return of the Golan Heights is still a bargaining chip for peace with Syria, they should realize that it is highly unlikely it will ever be surrendered; it is absolutely crucial to Israel agriculture. I believe Israel will never again share the Sea of Galilee with anyone.
There is less to share, anyway. I was shocked, when overlooking the Sea, to find it substantially smaller that when I last visited it a quarter of a century ago. I recall it as a rather massive, inland lake, with shorelines almost below the horizon from any lake vantage point; not so today. At this rate, it will soon take on the dimensions of a Florida drainage pond. The countries adjacent to the Jordan valley are good at making lakes disappear; the Dead Sea has shrunk by kilometers thanks to Israeli and Jordan evaporation mining, and Palestinian lake-side resorts viable thirty years ago are high and dry today.
There is an international scheme to pipe water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, using the natural fall of 270 meters from sea level to generate energy, and renew the Dead Sea's rapidly evaporating body. That energy could be used to desalinate sea water and irrigate the Negev, among other things. While Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Europe and the U.S. are all busy surveying the possibilities, it is notable that the Palestinians are not considered partners in any venture. The feeling seems to be that they're just consumers, now.
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