Looking for trouble

 Goksel, the UN spokesman in south Lebanon, was refreshingly candid over “Israel’s” claim that Lebanon is ‘diverting’ the Hasbani River: “Suddenly, they’re worried that they won’t have enough water for their swimming pools.”
The facts are these. The Council of the South is constructing a four-inch pipe to carry water to the small village of Wazzani, where residents are trying to reconstruct their lives and livelihoods after more than two decades of “Israeli” military occupation.
The water is coming from a small stream, also called the Wazzani, which flows into the Hasbani. It will be pumped to a water tower that can supply the needs of the villagers ­ not for swimming pools, but for more basic needs.
“Israel’s” argument that this amounts to “diverting” water is astonishing hypocrisy. During the occupation, the “Israelis” and their proxies set up schemes that pumped water into “Israel”. They also levied illegal charges on Lebanese villages for the supply of water.
They have left their occupation zone, but it seems the “Israelis” want to keep control of the water. “I hope that “Israel” will defend its interests,” said Uri Saguy, the head of Merokot, the national water company. “We have the means to do it.” And Avigdor Lieberman, the minister for infrastructure, left no doubt whatsoever what those means were. “Nobody heard me say wars break out over water,” he told “Israel” Radio. “But factually that is correct.”
So where is the causus belli, Mr. Lieberman? According to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization, “Israel” uses an annual total of 138 million cubic meters of water that has passed into the Sea of Galilee from the Hasbani. Yet Lebanon is taking only around 10 million cubic meters from the river. So it is absurd for Saguy to claim that the pumping of water to Wazzani is illegal.
How can “Israel” disregard its neighbors’ rights? Sadly, water is part of a wider picture. “Israel” continues to occupy land illegally in the Golan and Shibaa Farms. It continues to send its warplanes into Lebanese airspace. Border violations are commonplace: on Wednesday, for example, “Israeli” soldiers crossed into Lebanon and bulldozed a concrete shelter.
And now “Israel” asserts its control over a stream in Lebanon. As Lebanese construction teams work on the project, they are watched from across the border by armed “Israeli” security guards. For fear that Lebanese children in Wazzani might have water in their homes, “Israel” threatens us with its military might.
Bishop Elias Kfoury spoke very well for Lebanon and the people of the South: “Let “Israel” leave us in peace.” Issues of water can be resolved by neighbors who respect each other and abide by the law.

The Daily Star, 16-3-2001.