Return of Golan Puts Sea of Galilee in Grave Danger of Pollution.
By Zvi Lavi (Water Researcher) Globes, December 22, 1999
Return of the Golan will create a danger of pollution to the Sea of Galilee,
in addition to the loss of a third of Israel's water, geographer Dr. Arnon
Sofer warned the Knesset State Audit Committee today. He also warned of
international pressure to turn the Sea of Galilee into a main water source
for Jordan and the Palestinians.
Dr. Sofer spoke during a discussion of the State Comptroller's request for
a professional evaluation of the water crisis. Sofer said that after an Israeli
withdrawal from the Golan, a massive settlement of at least half a million
Syrian farmers should be expected there. Streams flowing into the Sea of
Galilee will also drain sewage from Golan settlements and rainwater from
pastureland. He stated that another possible source of pollution is the Trans
Arabian Pipeline Co. (Tapline) oil pipeline, which will renew its activity,
becoming a source of leaks and blowouts, with crude oil also pouring into
streams.
According to Sofer, Syria needs the Golan primarily as a water source. In
addition to use of the Banias spring, Syria will also use water from the
Hatzbani river, which flows in Syria for a distance of four km, thereby
diminishing most of the sources of the Jordan river.
Sofer advised the government to conduct water negotiations jointly with Jordan
and Turkey. He stated that the Syrians had already blocked the sources of
the Yarmuch river with 21 dams. If the Syrians return to the southern Golan,
Jordan will be subject to water blackmail. The Yarmuch water distribution
agreement allows the Syrians 90 million cbm., but they are already using
nearly 200 million cbm. From Hammat Gader in the southern Golan, Syria will
completely control the Yarmuch river.
Sofer recommended that Israel persuade Turkey to lay a water pipe from the
Euphrates river to the Damascus basin, which has a population of three million
and suffers from a severe water shortage.
|
Back to Index Page |
imra@netvision.net.il
Israel's "Greens" SILENT on PEACE REPERCUSSIONS
Israel's nature protection organizations are silent about consequences of
Oslo and withdrawal from Golan.
The silence of the Greens - By Yair Parag
The Jerusalem Post - 6 March 2000
...And about the Golan. Don't we have to protect the Kinneret from certain
destruction? Even the previous water commissioner - who cannot be suspected
of saying it because of his political affiliation - said: "Any retreat in
the Golan means the destruction of the Sea of Galilee as a source of fresh
water - unless we believe that Assad will join the Society for Protection
of Nature."
And let's make it clear: Assad will not preserve Gamla. We are enlightened people and thus have contempt for symbols. It is not so on the Arab side. Assad understands very well that in Gamla the Jewish warriors minted on their coins "For the liberation of holy Jerusalem." He will not take special care to preserve the place and to continue with the excavations, to use an understatement. We established a vulture reserve on the cliffs of Gamla, we treated carefully each nest and each egg and each chick - Assad will not save the vultures, which will pretty soon be stuffed and find their way to the walls of his senior officers. See how stuffed animals are being extensively sold in the Damascus airport to gulf sheikhs. See what happens to the gazelles under the Palestinian Authority. See what happens to the birds in Lebanon and why the wolves are running away from the Syrian side to our Golan.
As the water commissioner said: Assad is not a member of the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel. Thus we must not keep our mouths shut. And don't say "the peace is an uppermost value, for which we are willing to sacrifice nature" - I have heard such arguments. Nature preservation organizations have struggled vehemently - and rightly so - against developmental enterprises which had been considered essential to the survival of the new state, when such enterprises threatened the environment.
And not only in the distant past - notably the Hula swamps - but also nowadays. The development of the Arrow anti-ballistic missile is essential to our physical survival - nevertheless, the green organizations have begun a just struggle against the erection of a missile base which might cause an environmental hazard. And we are already preparing for the struggle against the destruction that would be caused to the areas to which Golan villages, military training areas and army bases will be transferred, just as we fought during the withdrawal from Sinai.
Do we Greens cry gevalt against giving away the Golan for its destruction?
Shall we see ourselves chained to tractors in order to prevent the retreat from Gamla, just as our people chain themselves - and rightly so - in order to prevent the construction of Trans-Israel Highway? Do we have to establish a new body dedicated to the preservation of basic nature? Let's raise our roaring voice in a determined struggle against the expected mass -destruction of the treasures of our land and our nation.
(The writer, a retired botanist and geneticist of the Hebrew University, is a member of the directorate of the Nature Protection and National Parks Authority.)
|
Back to Index Page |
Ariel Center for Policy Research (ACPR)
ad -The Golan Heights and the Facts - "The Torah Speaks of Four Sons..."
Ha'aretz, April 25, 2000
"What Says the Wise Son?"
*Could 177 Israeli tanks have fended off a surprise offensive of 1,400 Syrian
tanks, in October 1973, without the control of the mountain ridgeline (from
Mt. Hermon to the Rokad River), which is the present ceasefire line, a uniquely
effective natural tank barrier, and the watershed that determines the quantity
and the quality of Lake Kinneret's water (30% of Israel's water consumption)?
|
Back to Index Page |
imra@netvision.net.il 12 May 2000
The following Full Page Ad (#14) was published on May 9, 2000, in the Israeli
daily, Ha'aretz:
THE GOLAN HEIGHTS AND THE FACTS
Withdrawal from the Golan Heights = Deadly for Lake Kinneret:
Syria Has Systematically Violated Its Water Agreements with Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq: Syria seized the sources of the Orontes (al-Asi), near Baalbek, Lebanon in the 1970s. It has prevented Lebanon from constructing a dam vitally needed for irrigation and energy. Contrary to agreements, Syria withholds the waters of the Orontes from Turkey. Since 1953 Syria has violated all agreements for supplying water from the Yarmuk River to Jordan. It has diverted half of the Jordanian allotment, and has used the "Yarmuk Faucet" as a tool for political blackmail. In 1975 Syria and Iraq were on the verge of war because of a broken agreement on the supply of the Euphrates water by Syria to Iraq.
"Syria's attempt to divert these waters [of the Yarmuk] was a catalyst for the 1967 War. . . . Israel further relies on Yarmuk waters to reduce salinity in the Sea of Galilee and to recharge its aquifers via its National Water Carrier." (Dr. Joyce Starr, Middle East Water Covenant, Holt, New York, 1995, p. 184).
Chairman of the Kinneret Authority, Tzvi Ortenberg: "A potential Syrian success in diverting the sources of the Jordan and the Kinneret would mean only one thing: the destruction of Israel without resorting to military or political means. It is our deterrent capability, stemming from our presence on the Golan Heights, that makes Syria think twice before acting rashly." (Briefing, 16 April 2000)
"If regional cooperation in the utilization of water sources is possible, why does it not exist on the inter-Arab level?!" (Dr. Martin Sherman, Tel Aviv University, Globes business daily, 30 September 1999). For 1300 years Mideast water sources have been the cause of clashes rather than cooperation - among Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia (the Nile), Syria, Turkey and Iraq (the Euphrates), Syria and Jordan (the Yarmuk), etc. (Middle East Water Covenant, 1995)
US INTELLIGENCE:
Israel has arrived at the red line of water supp
Secret Report of the Israel Water Planning Authority, 1991:
The Golan Heights, western and northern Samaria, northwestern Judea, and
the Jerusalem environs are vital to ensuring the supply of Israel's water.
(Dr. Martin Sherman, Tel Aviv University, Globes, 30 September 1999).
Chairman of the Kinneret Authority, Tzvi Ortenberg:
The average annual water potential of Israel is 280 cubic meters per capita,
compared to 2,000 cubic meters per capita in Syria, 700 cubic meters per
capita for Israel's neighbors, and 1,400 cubic meters per capita in the Middle
East as a whole. There is no precedent for the relinquishment of water sources.
A country needs land, water, and people. The loss of any one of them -- or
a mortal blow to it -- destroys the foundation of that country's existence."
(Briefing, 4 May 2000).
Former Water Commissioner Gideon Tzur:
"The Israeli water system, which is fully utilized, does not have even a
drop of water to spare to a foreign entity. . . Syria could seize 200 million
cubic meters (at least) from the sources of the Kinneret, which would mean
a mortal blow to Israel . . . the death of the Kinneret and, indirectly,
the destruction of the coastal aquifer that serves as Israel's only long-term
reservoir." (Lecture in Netanya, 18 February 1996)
"70% of Israel's water sources will no longer be under its control if it withdraws from the Golan Heights (30%), Judea, and Samaria." (Dr. Martin Sherman, Tel Aviv University, Globes, 30 September 1999).
ONLY ISRAELI CONTROL OF THE GOLAN WATERSHED LOCATED ALONGSIDE THE PRESENT BORDERLINE ON THE GOLAN HEIGHTS ENSURES THE ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF WATER QUALITATIVELY AND QUANTITATIVELY.
|
Back to Index Page |