"Water Wars" in the Middle East (food for thought)

[Little Star]

Ted Thornton
History of the Middle East Database

<snip>Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon had been planned by then Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin as a way of gaining control over Lebanon's Litani River in addition to neutralizing Syrian and PLO opposition to Israel's plans to annex the Syrian Golan Heights and "Samaria and Judea" and to set up a pliant Christian government in Lebanon. Jewish settlers had coveted Lebanon's Litani river for a long time: at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the World Zionist Organization demanded a huge share of the Litani's resources. (see Robert Brenton Betts, "Water and Power" (book review), Middle East Policy, vol IV, no. 3, March, 1996, 191). To the east, Israel and Jordan were competing over use of Jordan Valley resources.<snip>
http://www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydatabase/waterwars.htm

ALSO

ICE Case Studies
Case Number: 14
Case Mnemonic: LITANI
Case Name: Litani River and Israel-Lebanon
Case Author: Angela Joy Moss

<snip>
Abstract
In the Middle East, the supply of water is much less than its demand, thereby resulting in conflict over it. This is true for Israel and Lebanon, where there have been struggles, although not always armed, for the waters of the Litani River. At this point, Israel occupies southern Lebanon. Part of the Litani is located in this region. There are conflicting reports and conclusions over whether or not Israel is using the Litani. There is also a verbal struggle over which country needs the Litani more, could make best use of it, and who, therefore, should develop their use of the Litani. Although there is not an armed struggle over it now, it has been involved in armed struggles in the past (in the 1967 war, and in 1982) and it is conceivable that in the future the struggles over it may become armed.<snip>

<Snip>
Israel and the Litani
Captured water is the most important part of Israel's total water supply. The four most important sources of Israel's water at the time of this writing were: "ground water; the Jordan watershed; lesser surface waters; and recycled water and water from desalinization plants," for a total of just less than 2,000 MCM per year.(24)
Israel's significant sources of water are currently exploited, and the only other source is the Litani, which, in order for Israel to use it, would have to be in Israel's possession, which could possibly happen through seizure. The only other source of additional water would be recycled water.(25)<snip>
http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/litani.htm

[Joanne98]

1. Don't forget the Water Barons. Europe isn't innocent either...

http://www.icij.org/water/report.aspx?aid=44

Cholera and the Age of the Water Barons

By Bill Marsden

February 3, 2003 — When cholera appeared on South Africa's Dolphin Coast in August 2000, officials first assumed it was just another of the sporadic outbreaks that have long stricken the country's eastern seaboard. But as the epidemic spread, it turned out to be a chronicle of death foretold by blind ideology.

In 1998, local councils had begun taking steps to commercialize their waterworks by forcing residents to pay the full cost of drinking water. But many of the millions of people living in the tin-roof slums of the region couldn't afford the rates. Cut off at the tap, they were forced to find water in streams, ponds and lakes polluted with manure and human waste. By January 2002, when the worst cholera epidemic in South Africa's history ended, it had infected more than 250,000 people and killed almost 300, spreading as far as Johannesburg, 300 miles away.

Making people pay the full cost of their water "was the direct cause of the cholera epidemic," David Hemson, a social scientist sent by the government to investigate the outbreak, said in an interview. "There is no doubt about that."

The seeds of the epidemic had been sown long before South Africa decided to take its deadly road to privatization. They were largely planted by an aggressive group of utility companies, primarily European, that are attempting to privatize the world's drinking water with the help of the World Bank and other international financial institutions.

The days of a free glass of water are over, in the view of these companies, which have a public relations campaign to accompany their sales pitch. On a global scale, and in many developing nations, water is a scarce and valuable and clearly marketable commodity. "People who don't pay don't treat water as a very precious resource," one executive said. "Of course, it is."

http://www.icij.org/water/report.aspx?aid=44

[boston bean]

2. Sure adds a new/old element to ponder. n/t