"Israel controls Palestinian water resources"

"Israel controls Palestinian water resources"
1/1/2007 4:00:00 PM GMT

Israel controls water resources in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza
Strip, and seeks to take over water reserves in the Golan Heights and
southern Lebanon, according to an Arab League report released on
Sunday.

The study, carried out by the Arab Water Studies and Water Security
Center, concluded that Israel was the main cause of water problems in
the Middle East.

It said the average amount of water used by Israel is estimated at
about two billion cubic meters, of which 65% comes from the West Bank,
Gaza, southern Lebanon and the Syrian Golan Heights, occupied by Israel
since 1967.

Israeli water comes from rivers, groundwater, and reservoirs, while
Palestinian water comes from rain, wells and springs.

Despite the limited water resources in the Palestinian territories,
Israel seized more than 80% of them, the report said.

Moreover, there are 850 million cubic meters of water available in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip annually, but the Palestinians do not use more
than 120 million cubic meters as the Israeli government divert their
water.

The average individual in Israel consumes water seven times more than
the Palestinians, the report said, stressing that resolving the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict was linked to the water issue.

"Israel takes 500 million cubic meters annually from water reserves
in the West Bank, which accounts for approximately one third of
Israel's consumption", the study said, adding that the West Bank
separation barrier allowed Israel to seize more of Palestinian water
resources, as they are now annexed to Israeli boundaries.

The Arab League report, which focused on Israel's control and use of
water in Palestine, Israel and Jordan, said that large Israeli water
projects always rely on drawing water from Arab sources.

"Israel seeks to control most of the water resources in the Golan
Heights and southern Lebanon, the last of which was only meters away
from the cease-fire line between Syria and Israel."

The study also said that water had always been one of Israel's main
motives for military operations.

"Israel adopted the scheme to loot a high volume of Arab water in
Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, and since the aggression of
June-June 1967 Israel is exploiting water in the occupied territories.
Water has always been one of the most important motives that drives the
strategy of the Israeli military."

Finally, the report called for consolidating Arab efforts to face
increasing water challenges and to demand Israel to stop controlling
Arab water resources if peace was to be achieved.

-- AJP and Agencies

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