Drought Spurs Another Israeli-Arab Conflict

Israel has stopped pumping water from the Sea of Galilee and the River Jordan has become a dirty, brown stream. Palestinians often are lucky to get a drip when they turn on the faucet.

Israel is suffering a drought, which in the Middle East means much more than not being able to sprinkle the lawn.

Water is another of the region’s many crises, extending beyond Israel to Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. Water is inseparable from Israel’s conflict with the Arabs, and especially the Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Agriculture minister Rafael Eitan has run full-page newspaper ads warning Israelis that their country would lose nearly 60% of its water if it gave up the occupied West Bank.

“Water is an extremely scarce resource in Israel,” the ads say. “In fact, it is in many ways the limiting factor on the country’s future development.”

As thousands of Soviet immigrants pour in monthly, with 1 million expected by the end of 1992, everyone fears a shortage.

Palestinians see Israel’s handling of water as another attempt to drive them from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“Water is a final solution to the Palestinian problem,” said Saeb Erakat, a professor of political science at An-Najah University in the West Bank. “Denying Palestinians water means, ‘Get out.’ ”

Erakat turned on the tap at his home in Jericho, an oasis city since ancient times. A few drops trickled out and he said: “No water, no life.”

Eitan calls Israel’s dwindling water sources “a potential catastrophe.”

On Nov. 25, Israel stopped pumping water from the Sea of Galilee, which supplies about a quarter of its drinking water. The sea had dropped to within 2 inches of the level where more pumping could turn it into a salt lake.

Reports say the country’s underground water also is near the danger level.

Predictions are for a late, plentiful rainfall this winter, but November ended without significant rainfall. A group of rabbis even held a special prayer for rain.

The Gaza Strip has more serious problems than the West Bank or Israel. Open sewers in crowded refugee camps drain into its only water source, an aquifer nearly destroyed by overuse. Israel already pumps in water for the few thousand Jewish settlers and 750,000 Arabs in Gaza.

In the long run, Eitan talks of importing water from Turkey or Eastern Europe and building desalination plants.

The reserve army general leads the right-wing Tsomet Party, which wants to make the occupied lands part of Israel. “Giving up control of the West Bank is basically giving up control of the entire water system,” said Martin Sherman, one of his advisers.

Water from an underground mountain reservoir that straddles the West Bank and Israel now is divided 80-20 in Israel’s favor. The government says this is justified under international law, based on population figures before Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Middle East war.

One-quarter of all Israel’s water comes from the reservoir. The ad placed by Eitan’s ministry said another aquifer that provides one-third of the supply would be affected if a Palestinian state were to be created in the West Bank.

Erakat said 30% less arable land is irrigated now than before 1967, reducing the economic output of the West Bank by more than 25%.

Shehadeh H. Dajani, manager of the Arab Development Society in Jericho, used a large map on the wall of his office to point out land that was irrigated before the occupation.

“This is something they have gained after 1967, and they don’t only control the land, but our water from heaven,” Dajani said.

Israel has denied taking water that should go to Palestinians.

According to government statistics, Israelis use twice as much water per person as Palestinians. A government conservation campaign has had little effect and farmers have stymied efforts to raise the subsidized price of water for agriculture.

As the crisis gets worse, Sherman said, the government will have to decide who gets water and how much.

Left-wing legislator Dedi Zucker said water is the deciding factor in the Palestinian-Israel conflict. “It will either force us to cooperate with one another or to kill one another by thirst,” he said.

Neighboring Jordan and Syria have water disputes with Israel.

“I would tell the world, if you want to limit the tension in the Middle East, don’t send tanks and don’t confuse us with fruitless talks,” Eitan said. “Send water and that will cool down the Middle East.”

In Oja, a village outside Jericho, Mubarak al-Nujoum pointed to fields overgrown with brush and blamed his water shortage on a nearby Jewish settlement that even has a swimming pool.

He said more than half his 25-acre farm, which supports an extended family of 17 people, no longer is irrigated. He still raises tomatoes, cucumbers and corn, but has stopped growing bananas because they need too much water.

Al-Nujoum threw a pebble into an irrigation pond, which he said was only one-third its normal depth.

“These whirls of water are the rings of war here,” he said.