Dienstag, 11. Januar 2011

11. Siedlungspolitik Israel - Zionist/Israeli Planning: The Fabrication of Israel - IV.5 The Water Issue



Viktoria Waltz
(Editor)

THE FABRICATION OF ISRAEL
About the usurpation and destruction of
Palestine through Zionist spatial planning

A UNIQUE PLANNING ISSUE

Viktoria Waltz - Herausgeberin - Dortmund 2010 – Eigenverlag


Die hier in loser Folge zur Veröffentlichung vorliegenden Texte geben einen detaillierten Einblick in die Vorgänge, die zum Konstrukt Israel geführt haben und lassen keinen Zweifel daran, dass es unter den bestehenden zionistischen Rahmenbedingungen um nichts geringeres als das Ganze geht, um ein jüdisches Israel ohne Palästinenser und mit keinem Impuls für zwei Staaten, die nebeneinander leben könnten und auch nicht um eine Integration Israels in den Nahen Osten, sondern um die Fortsetzung des aggressiven, zerstörerischen Kurses bis hin zu weiteren Kriegen. (wöchentlich mittwochs online)

Jad Isaac, Jane Hilal
IV 5. Water – Another Story of Exploitation of Palestinian and
Arab Resources

Conclusion from last part:
Segregation based on race, ethnic origin and also religion surely does not ensure security and peace. However, when segregation is coupled with severe travel restrictions on a particular people and their goods this definitely breads mistrust, alienation, and more instability and hostility. It is definitely a violation of human rights and international conventions. Walls of concrete, hate, and/or discrimination can not protect nor be a solution. Mobility needs roads and bridges, which inevitably pave the roads of peace.
Next part will deal with the usurpation of the water resources.
IV
Jad Isaac, Jane Hilal
5. Water – Another Story of Exploitation of Palestinian and
Arab Resources

The Zionist slogan of a state 'from the river of Egypt to Euphrates’ (Herzl, 9.10.1888) as quoted in sector II, must also be understood as a demand for water resources from Egypt to Iraq. From the beginning of the project, Zionist planners realised the importance of water to maintain the viability of the Jewish state (Sabbagh 1994:505). Already at the end of the 19th century the Zionist Congress mentioned the importance of water while making the first geographic plans for the Jewish State. Many scientists and politicians assert that the next 'casus belli' in the Middle East will be control and use of water (Amery 1993). If so, the Middle East region carries the potential for conflicts between all the riparian states of the Jordan, Nile, Euphrates and adjacent rivers. The several occupations of south Lebanon can be understood as part of corresponding Israeli strategies. The first part of this section is mainly based on Amery (1993), Eickelpasch (2001), Moss (2006), Dolatyar/Gray (2000).
5.1 Israel's Usurpation Interest on the Arab Water Resources until Today
Besides the coastal aquifer, the main regional water resources are: the Litani River of Lebanon, the Jordan River, the Lake Taberiya, the Yarmouk River of Jordan, the Golan Heights of Syria and the northern, eastern and western aquifer of the West Bank. (see map 1, map 2)
"Almost half of the water currently used in Israel is captured, diverted or pre-empted from its neighbours." (Stauffer 1996:11) Israel understands water as "Israel's vulnerable and fragile source of life" (Amery 1993: 232) showing no respect for the needs, demands and plans of others. Control of the Litani River has long-since been a vision of Zionist planners for establishing a Jewish state “from Sinai to ancient Babylon” (Stauffer 1996: 11). The Zionists first proposed diverting the Litani southward in 1905, because they assumed "the waters of the Jordan basin would be insufficient for the future needs of Palestine." (Amery 1993: 233) Because of its water, it was suggested that the Litani becomes part of the "national Jewish entity" in 1919, but this was rejected by the League of Nations. In 1919, Weizmann, head of the World Zionist Organisation at that time, wrote to the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George that Lebanon was "well-watered" and that the Litani waters were "valueless to the territory north of the proposed frontiers. They can be used beneficially in the country much further south." He concluded the Litani was "essential to the future of the Jewish national home." (Weisgal 1977: 267) However, the Litani became part of Lebanon (Soffer 1994: 966-7).
The 1920 San Remo accord, which decided on the former territories of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and designed the 'new map' of the region, did not respect the Zionist demands on water. The northern border especially was not satisfying to Jewish strategists. Hence, Weizman - later president of Israel - commented to the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon: “the draft accord France proposed not only separates Palestine from the Litani River, but also deprives Palestine from the Jordan River sources, the east coast of the Lake Taberiya and all the Yarmouk valley north of the Sykes-Picot line. I am quite sure you are aware of the expected bad future the Jewish national home would face when that proposal is carried out. You also know the great importance of the Litani River, the Jordan River with its tributaries, and the Yarmouk River for Palestine.' (Dolatyar 1993)
Strong Jewish interests in the Litani were also expressed at the time of the Second World War. Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister suggested the inclusion of the Litani into the Jewish state. The 1941 international commission to whom this was suggested recommended that seven-eighths of the Litani be "leased to Israel." (Amery 1996: 233) However, on this occasion as well Israel could not achieve its objectives. Hence, access to water remained a fundamental object of crisis between the Arab neighbours and the state of Israel after 1948. ...