[lbo-talk] Water politics in Gaza

Colin Brace cb at lim.nl
Mon Aug 14 01:46:14 PDT 2006


[via Sam Smith]

[...]

What can be perceived here is that many of Israel's leaders, whilst appearing to make concessions to the Palestinians, have in fact retained an ideological commitment to 'Eretz Israel from the river to the sea', and have concentrated their policy towards creating 'facts on the ground' that will make life for the Palestinians impossible, hence creating the 'positive conditions' required to induce people to leave. A close examination of the Gazan water crisis illustrates this point very well. If nothing is done, there will be no usable water resources in Gaza and it will become impossible to live there. Nothing can be done without Israeli cooperation. Thus whilst Israel may not have intentionally set out to create the Gaza water crisis, it fits in rather well with Zionist expansionist aspirations to perpetuate the situation and prevent meaningful action being taken to resolve it.

If one examines the process that is taking place in the West Bank, whereby a series of Bantustans are being created through land confiscation, settlement expansion and the building of the 'Separation Barrier', with the population becoming ever more urbanized and access to resources such as water and land becoming ever more restricted, it is possible to see that what in effect is happening is the creation of a number of 'mini Gazas'. To illustrate this point: the building of the Wall in the north of the West Bank led to the destruction of 25 wells and the isolation of 50 more (WaSH MP 2004), isolating many localities from their only source of water and destroying the irrigated farming industry. One estimate anticipates that when completed, the Wall will isolate Palestinians from 65 % of their water resources (CAABU, 2003), although so much uncertainty surrounds its final route that no solid predictions can be made. Thus a number of highly urbanized communities will be created, with poor economic and social conditions and inadequate resources to sustain themselves. This is the manifestation of Sharon's "positive policy", which essentially amounts to ethnic cleansing by other means, causing widespread suffering, illness and death.

[...]

full: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14434.htm

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Colin Brace

Amsterdam



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