Beirut wants to change the discrepancy in water allocation and development in its southern region, while Israel tries to maintain its advantage. Michael Jansen reports from the Lebanese south Yesterday Lebanon's speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, other prominent figures and the media descended the deep gorge carved by the Hasbani River through the hilly countryside adjacent to the border with Israel to inaugurate a new pumping station at the Wazzani Springs. The pumps of the new installation lift 10,000 cubic metres of water a day from the azure pools of water and pipe the precious fluid to a reservoir at Taibe nine kilometres away. From there it is to be distributed to 40 villages in the area. This project has made the springs the latest flash point along the tense Lebanon-Israel border. The Hasbani River, fed by the Wazzani Springs, flows into the upper Jordan River and spills into Lake Tiberias, one of Israel's main sources of water. Over the past month Washington has exerted a certain amount of pressure on Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon to prevent him from making good on his threat to "deal with the issue" of Lebanon drawing from the springs. For more than three decades Israel had the exclusive use of the waters. In the 1980s Israel installed a small pump to carry water from the Wazzani Springs to the occupied Golan village of Ghajar which now straddles the UN-delineated "Blue Line", two-thirds being in Lebanon and one-third in Israel. In March 2001 Lebanon's Council of the South installed a pump and a ten centimetre pipe not far from the Israeli pipes and began to lift 7 million cubic metres of water annually to the villages in the region. The UN dismissed Israel's angry reaction to the scheme. Last August the Council began work on a much more ambitious project involving the construction of a proper pumping station and the laying of 40 centimetre pipes to boost the supply by an additional three and a half to four million cubic metres annually. While Israel fussed and fumed, it ultimately had to moderate its stand and allow Lebanon to increase its drawings to 10.5 to 11 cubic metres so that local villagers could have just enough water to drink while Israelis across the Blue Line fill their swimming pools and irrigate lush plantations. From the bluff just above the springs the divide between desert and irrigated land is very clear. On the Israeli side of the Blue Line there are verdant fields and orchards, on the Lebanese side slopes of sun-scorched wild grass. Beirut cannot afford to ignore the liberated south's demand for water. Israel's 24 year old occupation of the border zone swept away the feudal system which had ruled since before independence and forced Israel to provide water, electricity and other utilities to the populace. Israel's abrupt withdrawal in May 2000 forced Beirut to take over the provision of these essential services. Since then the people of the formerly ignored south have become a political force. They have two parties in parliament vying for their support, Berri's Amal Party, which controls the Council of the South, and Hizbullah, the resistance movement credited with driving the Israeli army from the area. For the past month Israel has been issuing threats against the Wazzani project and harassing workers at the site. Sharon charged Lebanon with violating "a 30-year-old understanding about water". Sharon told cabinet colleagues that he had "made it clear" to the US that "Israel cannot allow itself to concede on the water issue." The Israeli press reported that Washington told Sharon not to open any new fronts while it is preparing to wage war against Iraq. With the installation of 40 centimetre pipes, Lebanon seems to be determined to obtain its rightful share of the waters from the Wazzani- Hasbani system. Beirut stakes its claim to 35 million cubic metres of water a year on the basis of a plan drawn up by US envoy Eric Johnston in 1955. Last week the Lebanese government transmitted its views and representations on the water issue to the UN. Beirut prefers UN to US mediation. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi accused the US of "total bias in favour of Israel" on the Wazzani issue. Initially Charles Lawson, the US expert dispatched to defuse tension, urged the Lebanese to postpone implementation of the project. When they refused, he suggested taking water from the Litani River rather than the Hasbani-Wazzani system. Beirut rejected his proposal. Finally Lawson adopted the Israeli formula which would allow Lebanon to lift drinking water for local needs but not for irrigation. Lebanon also rejects this idea and hopes that the UN will act as honest broker. A knowledgeable source told Al-Ahram Weekly, however, that the US is trying to influence the world organisation's decisions on the case. Meanwhile Lebanon is sending out mixed signals. While the Lebanese press reported the current drawings would be for drinking water only, Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri has rejected US-Israeli demands that irrigation water should be taken exclusively from the Litani River and its tributaries. "We need the water of the Litani basin for agricultural, industrial and other purposes, just as the Hasbani and Wazzani basin need their waters for the same purposes." According to Lebanese experts, the Litani water is too polluted to be potable but can be used for irrigation and other purposes. This means that Lebanon's drawings from the Wazzani Springs can be expected to increase, gradually utilising the full capacity of the 40 centimeter pipes. As reconstruction progresses people who left the area return and consumption grows. As I left the Wazzani Springs I saw half a dozen men in bright red overalls bent low over furrows in a field marked with red plastic triangles as mined. The provision of water and demining go hand in hand. Until this dry fallow land is cleared of deadly unexploded ordnance left by half a century of warfare, development cannot take place even if there is sufficient water. The men in red were soldiers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which donated $50 million to clear 306 minefields in 472 square kilometres of Lebanese territory. Lebanese deminers work along side the UAE troops and Ukrainian engineers are removing unexploded ordnance in the vicinity of the Blue Line. Until the explosives are cleared, the government cannot initiate major road building and infrastructure projects, farmers cannot plow their fields, and former residents will not return to their abandoned homes and villages.
