Drought threatens Israel

Drought threatens Israel

www.jta.org

Israel is facing its worst drought in a decade.

The Water Authority announced this week that due to low precipitation, high irrigation consumption and pollution, the amount of usable water supplies in the country were at a 10-year low.

By year's end, the authority said, the Sea of Galilee's level looks likely to drop below the so-called "black line," when pumping will have to stop as the machinery will no longer be submerged.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Many has assumed that real reason for Israel going after Syria, is not because "terrorist" but because of water.

Syria has it, Israel doesnt.

Now its official news, and time is running out. I think that if Iran attack is done by US, Israel will strike same time to Syria, and water is a very good reason to do that.

www.jta.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

very true, in fact water was one of the major factors in the arab-israeli war in the 60's. Israel was diverting water from the jordan river and in response syria began the headwater diversion plan which would reduce the water heading to israels water carrier. so israel bombed the diversion area several times. leading to several border disputes and eventually the war.
also during the war, israel captured the golan heights from syria, which oddly enough is a major watershed for the jordan river and is a major source of israels water.
i'd say water politics is defintely in play here.

But I thought they were blessed by GOd and were making hte desert bloom! Say it ain't so, say it ain't so!

Read the UN report about water wars, it is more likely than conflicts over oil and gas. Natural resources are limited, India and China is another flashpoint over water.

reply to post by turbokid


"also during the war, israel captured the golan heights from syria, which oddly enough is a major watershed for the jordan river and is a major source of israels water."

I remember a bit ago, Syria was saber rattling over the golan hights.
I could not really understand, but guess's just messing with them for no real reason.

Now I see what it was REALLY about.

Thank you for this interesting bit of info.

You know Israel could talk to syria instead of threatening them - would be a unique move by them

That is a good idea, and has been tried.

That said, I believe it is completely off topic.

Now, that said, I can easily see why the Golan Heights was /has and will continue to be very important.

I can see why war may occur over the Golan Heights-more to the point, the water it has.

heres a bit more info on this topic..

A main concern to Israel continues to be Syrian insistence on Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 border (which was not the international border, but merely the 1949 armistice line). This would give Damascus control of the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee — Israel's main source of fresh water. Israel wishes to retain control of the Sea of Galilee and says the border is located ten meters to the east of the shore.

en.wikipedia.org...

news.bbc.co.uk...


news.bbc.co.uk...

The water issue may hold up the Middle East peace talks.

Palestinians gathering water from a spring in their village use a quarter as much water as their Israeli neighbours.

Israel shows no signs of returning land with access to rivers or underground supplies.

...

Palestinian leaders believe that to ensure peace Israel must release land and water and change the way it uses supplies.
...
They've got to change their crops, cut down on citrus, cut down on rice," explains Mr Sha'ath.

"You grow rice and cotton in the desert. They are the most water-consuming crops of all."

Israeli farmer Tal Adler has left a huge proportion of his land unplanted this year because he knows he will not be able to water it.


Tal Adler:"I think we should supply our own food"

Supplies piped to Israeli farmers were cut by 40% last year because of drought.

Israel cut the amount it allowed to flow to its neighbours, too.

definetly gonna be some future conflicts in this region over water.






[edit on 23-3-2008 by turbokid]

[edit on 23-3-2008 by turbokid]

reply to post by turbokid


What/ where is the international boarder, just out of curosity-as I think this is a major issue dealing with this topic?

Can Syria actually be so stupid, yes stupid, as to think Israel will give up it's main source of water??????

Is anyone really so stupid as to honestly think Israel will give up it's main source of fresh water???

Not just with Syria, but also Lebanon. The Litani River flows entirely within the borders of Lebanon, but within a few kilometers of the border with Israel, and at altitude at that point such that gravity could draw its water into the Jordan basin. There are plans for major new desalination plants coming on line in 2013, but that's a ways away.

In the meantime, expect the Palestinians, who already have less water than what the UN says is the minimum necessary to sustain human life, to have their supplies cut further: American tax dollars hard at work.