Some hard questions about israel

[4911]

Hi, Im learning stuff about this , so please correct me where Im wrong:<br><br>As far as I can tell, the current conflict is an extension of the 1967 conflict in which israel preemptively attacked the arab states to stop them from diverting the waters of the Dan/Banias so that the water would not enter Israel, and the Sea of Galilee, but rather flow into a dam at Mukhaiba for Jordan and Syria. <br><br>So as I understand it at the moment, the arab states were trying to divert their water supply in a way that would cut israel out, and israel took it as a national threat - completely understandible. The fact also that the water was being diverted on arab soil, and technically the arabs can do whatever the heck they like with their land. The trouble being it wouldnt be very neighborly.<br><br>Now my questions are these: Could Israel get water from somewhere else or is it crucial to the survival of the nation that the water comes from there? <br><br>Has there ever been a UN resolution wherein the water supply would be controlled by the UN and diverted in such a way as to make it possible for all parties to get the water? <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=4911>4911</A> at: 8/8/06 5:40 am<br></i>

[4911]

hello? Is this a strange question? Help? <p></p><i></i>

[Bismillah]

Israel has long desired access to the Litani river, and this is surely one of the main reasons for the current occupation of southern Lebanon, which may well be interminable. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://web.macam.ac.il/~arnon/Int-ME/water/THE%20LITANI%20RIVER.htm">web.macam.ac.il/~arnon/In...0RIVER.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <p></p><i></i>

[Bismillah]

See also:<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.bintjbeil.com/water/litani_river_basin.html" target="top">The Litani River Basin: The Politics and Economics of Water</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>"Having access to the Litani was on the minds of Israeli government officials early in the state's formative years. The diaries of Moshe Sharett, Prime Minister of Israel in the mid-1959s, reveal that David Ben-Gurion (the first Prime Minister of Israel), and Moshe Dayan (Israel's chief of Staff and later Defense Minister) were strong advocates of an Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon up to the Litani River (Rokach, 1986; 22-27). Sharett quotes Dayan as having said in 1954 that <br><br>... the only thing that's necessary is to find an [Lebanese] officer, even just a Major. We should either win his heart or buy him with money, to make him agree to declare himself the savior of the [Christian] Maronite population. Then the Israeli army will enter Lebanon, will occupy the necessary territory, and will create a Christian regime which will ally itself with Israel. The territory from the Litani southward will be totally annexed to Israel and everything will be all right (Rokach, 1986; 26). <br><br>In the wake of the June War of 1967 and of Israel's territorial gains at the expense of three of its four neighbors, Moshe Dayan once again reiterated his long standing view that Israel had achieved "provisionally satisfying frontiers, with the exception of those with Lebanon" (Hof, 1985; 36)."<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>

[smithtalk]

i dont think it can be simplified to the point where you make statements like, israel preemptively striked the arab states in 1967,<br>this is getting on for being a hundred year war, <br>mostly small incidents of provocation and attrition going on permanently, <br>every incident is preceded by another incident,<br>so it didnt begin four weeks ago or in 1967, 1956, or 1946,<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[Bismillah]

From The Inventory of Conflict & Environment (ICE) at the American University in Washington D.C.:<br><br>Case Number: 14<br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/litani.htm" target="top">Case Name: Litani River and Israel-Lebanon</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br>Case Author: Angela Joy Moss<br><br>Date: November 1997<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Israel could increase its annual water supply by 800 MCM (approximately 40% of its annual water consumption in 1993) if it had continued access to the Litani through continued/permanent occupation of southern Lebanon.(38 ) Another reason for Israel to want the Litani is that, especially along the Israeli coast, many aquifiers are stressed and their water is increasingly brackish.(39) <br> Chaim Weizmann, head of the World Zionist Organization, wrote (around 1919-1920) to Prime Minister David Lloyd George that Lebanon was "well-watered" and that the Litani was "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.'" Yet the British and French mandate powers kept the Litani entirely in Lebanon.(40) <br><br> Returning water-rich western slopes to the West Bank (acquired in the 1967 war), may be seen as relinquishing Israel's water sovereignty and threatening its national existence.(41) <br><br> A major reason that Israel gives for its use of the Litani is that Lebanon is not doing so. As evidence, Israel cites Lebanon's "Litani Project," of which only a third has markedly been realized. Yet, Lebanon argues that if it does not have control over its water and land, it will not be able to realize the potential of its water or land, or use it to the utmost.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/litani.htm" target="top">www.american.edu/ted/ice/litani.htm</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=bismillah@rigorousintuition>Bismillah</A> at: 8/8/06 8:35 pm<br></i>

[4911]

why couldnt they just rent the river, or lease it, or find some kind of mutually benefitting solution? <p></p><i></i>