September 1989, Page 47

From the Hebrew Press

Translated from the Hebrew by Dr. Israel Shahak

Water From the Fount of Contention

Ha'Aretz, April 25, 1989

By Reuben Pedhazur

Ultimately, even after exhausting all the political options, one substantial obstacle will stand in the way of realizing any settlement in the West Bank. Although everyone ignores it at present, in the end it will stand at the crux of Israel's contacts with its Arab partners. This obstacle is not found in the procedures for elections, nor the ultimate status of the occupied territories.

These problems mentioned above, although their political importance is undoubted, will become marginal issues when the time for agreeing on the terms of the political solution draws near. Any future settlement will rise or fall on one substantial issue-the water problem. Only the ability to reach solutions acceptable to both sides on the issue of water will make possible the realization of a settlement on the future of the West Bank. The ignoring of this issue by the Israeli government, and the continual avoidance of any in-depth discussion of the heart of the real problem in Israel's relations with its neighbors to the east, once more testify to the faulty quality of strategic planning in Israel.

The reason for this statement is simple. Whoever controls the West Bank water source can, simply, dry out Israel's area which lies near the sea. Therefore, a political settlement which does not include agreements to prohibit overuse of the dwindling water resources of Judea and Samaria and which does not include arrangements for the supervision and inspection of the exploitation of these water resources by the local government will not be worth the paper it is written on. Seeing the figures clarifies how critical the water problem is. Almost a third of the water consumed in Israel originates from the West Bank.

Even now there is an overexploitation of the water resources in Judea and Samaria, which causes a gradual lowering of the level of ground water and damage to the quality of the water. Conservative calculations reveal that by next year a deficit of 200 million cubic meters (mcm) of water in the West Bank is foreseen: this while the military government severely restricts the water allotments given to Palestinians and prohibits new drilling.

The annual consumption of water in Israel stands at present at 1.9 billion cubic meters (cm) and grows constantly. Even today, water from Judea and Samaria supplies more than 500 mcm of the Israeli citizens' consumption within the Green Line. The limit of exploiting water, from underground sources in the West Bank, stands at 615 cm only. This means that Israel takes more than 80 percent of the West Bank's ground water.

Sharon Conditions Support of Defense Budget on Arafat Assassination

Hadashot, July 17, 1989

By Ilan Kfir

During the second portion of the government meeting of July 16 to deal with the defense budget, discussion developed between Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Rabin about why attempts are not being made to assassinate Yasser Arafat. Sharon made his vote for the additional defense budget appropriation conditional on the eradication of the violence and the terror called the intifada.

Sharon proposed assassination of all the leaders of that terror, and above all Arafat, who is the main problem. "If we do not do this, the murders of Jews and Arabs will continue, and we shall be obliged to add to the defense budget year after year," he said.

Sharon said that if the minister of defense prepares a plan to eradicate the violence and the terror, he will support an increase of even more than is being asked for in this budget. But, according to Sharon, there must be an explanation as to how the addition to the defense budget will effect the eradication of the terror and those who direct it.

Rabin remarked sarcastically, after comments about the eradication of the intifada by Likud minister Moda'i and Sharon's proposal to assassinate Arafat: "So far as I remember, the last time in which the Israeli army was near enough to hit Arafat was in Beirut, in 1982. Seven years have passed and the terror from Lebanon has not been eradicated. Moreover, the cost of Israeli army activities against terror on the Lebanese borders and in the security zone is four times greater today than before the 'Peace for Galilee' [1982 invasion of Lebanon] operation."

Ilan Kfir, chief political correspondent of Hadashot, is one of Israel's best-known political correspondents.