Water World
This is a guest post by Seismic Shock.
Further to news about Amnesty International’s dalliances with the Christisons comes more depressing information.
They’ve only gone and invited Ben White to speak about water politics in the Middle East.
According to Amnesty’s website:
A change to Israel’s water policy is urgently needed so that Palestinians can access more water and that water resources are allocated in a fair and non-discriminatory manner. Please join us for this discussion with Ben White, followed by a reception and Q&A
Amnesty also promote Ben White’s book, which contains a citation to the work of Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy. Ben White also understands why some people are anti-Semites, although doesn’t consider himself to be one, which is nice.
Now, when it comes to water in the Middle East, I do realise that everyone is out for what they can get. King Hussein of Jordan once famously remarked that he’d only go to war with Israel for water. Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are scrapping for the Middle East’s most precious resource, which must be distributed fairly.
The only sensible strategy for Middle Eastern countries to adopt is to develop multilateral, ecologically sustainable transnational approaches, and work together. This however is difficult to do given present political tensions.
Millions are affected by droughts in Turkey, Jordan and particularly Syria. The situation is not getting any better, and without enough rainfall, it is difficult to see how Middle Eastern countries can move forward on this issue. What we need, then, are people with innovative ideas as to how to best encourage co-operation between Middle Eastern countries, and find new approaches to water politics in the Middle East.
Therefore, I don’t think Amnesty are helping anyone by inviting a speaker who seems to think:
- Palestinian Christians should be accepted into Palestinian society specifically because of the violent resistance of some Palestinian Christians to Israel (published in Ismail Patel’s Al Aqsa Journal).
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was not really denying the Holocaust in 2005.
- The arrest of anti-Semites plotting to blow up a synagogue in New York was a ‘fully controlled threat to our freedoms.’
- ‘The Palestinian Authority is also staffed with “native” West Bank leaders for whom business interests long since trumped fighting for national liberation.’
- One can ‘understand’ racism.
- We should really listen to those who argue that, as God has broken his covenant with the Jews, Israel should not exist.
- Roger Garaudy is a credible source.
- People concerned about any of the above are ’smear merchants.’
Promoting a commentator as polemical as Ben White is not going to achieve anything, and it’s a shame to see Amnesty doing so.We need some bright ideas.
Perhaps something like OneWater could work in a Middle Eastern context.
habibi adds: as if the antisemitic troofers the Christisons and pathetic polemicist Ben White weren’t enough, in other Amnesty UK news, tomorrow the Norwich branch will host Moazzam Begg, long a favourite of the organisation.
Begg has a record of extremism stretching back to the 1990s and is a fan of al Qaeda preacher Anwar al Awlaki, whom his Cage Prisoners group calls “inspirational”. The perfect poster boy for human rights, Mr Begg, oh yes.
Later this month an annual lecture will be delivered in Belfast. Whom has the nominally neutral human rights group chosen? Um, Noam Chomsky.
Finally, here is some utterly bizarre wishful thinking about the Taliban, published today on Amnesty UK’s blog pages.
It pains me that the Taliban employed these series of bomb explosion to press home their demands when there were other peaceful means to achieve their objectives. If they so much believe in their vision and mission, they should persuade and lobby the Pakistani and Afghan people to form a party and thereafter, contest and win their elections. They can then advance to pursue developments and their philosophy diplomatically. All these bloodshed, threat and horrors they are spreading like wildfire do not make sense or give them a good reputation.
After winning the respective countries’ (Pakistan and Afghanistan) election, they can advance to win their Muslim and Arab neighbours/brethren. If they can win Pakistani and Afghanistan elections fairly and win their Arab or Muslim neighbours collectively, what stops them from advancing to the United Nations Assembly to pursue their goals, dreams, philosophy and practical pursuit. All these can’t be achieved just on a day, year or decade. It will take years and years if not hundred of years. Those who start it might not finish it but at least there should be a game plan to last years.
Please, Taliban, change your approach to the achievement of your philosophy and dreams. Give peace a chance. Adopt peaceful and non-violent means in your drives and halt the present menace plaguing the region.
Oh dear.
Comments
| 19 October 2009, 7:21 pm |
We should really listen to those who argue that, as God has broken his covenant with the Jews, Israel should not exist.
We must tell the Muslims that their failure to destroy Israel is because Allah is on the side of Israel. After all it was Allah himself who grabted Israel to the Jewish Nation.
http://www.templemount.org/quranland.html
Muslims fighting to destroy Israel an act of apostacy,
| 19 October 2009, 7:45 pm |
Gaza Sur Le Mer has plenty of ocean to desalinate and pump into West Bank.
Those Arab brothers Egypt could do the same.
What’s stopping them?
They can’t pressure Israel if they help themselves.
| 19 October 2009, 7:49 pm |
Apologies for googling as an afterthought:-
“Israel allows entry of water desalination gear to Gaza”
http://twocircles.net/2009oct19/israel_allows_entry_water_desalination_gear_gaza.html
Nasty Israel providing humanity to Gaza residents while still in a state of war.
| 19 October 2009, 7:53 pm |
Has White had anything to say about a full-scale dog-fight with Police helicopters in his beloved Brazil?
| 19 October 2009, 8:14 pm |
Here’s an interesting article.
Some points.
Israel
a)uses the same 3 main aquifers as before 1967, upon which it is dependent
b)has the 2nd lowest per capita usage in the region
c)hooked up the West Bank to Israel’s main, those that wanted it
d)some didn’t
e)Palestinian West Bankers don’t pay for the service
d)Palestinian usage of the northern aquifer has increased since
1967
f)West Bank deep wells increased under Israel
g)wants nothing to do with any desalination project
h)Jordan is obliged to supply 70-150 million cubic meters. It has supplied nothing since 1967.
g)the P.A. can dig its own wells now. Of 83 wells, 43 are in Areas A and B, and nothing to do with Israel. of the remaining 39, in Area C, 21 have been approved, and 11 and have not been submitted. Dozens of wells have been approved but not acted on. 11 have not yet been connected:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249417166921&pagename=JPArticle/ShowFull
Israel supplied water through at least one war/intifadah.
Ben White has 4 (short) paragraphs on West Bank water in his “book”. On p. 77 he alleges Israel grants Palestinians only 17% of “their” water.
Hmm. This guy is an expert? Graduating in Eng. Lit. from Cambridge seemingly allows one to blag one’s way into anything.
| 19 October 2009, 8:26 pm |
revision
e) “It is important to note, however, that for political reasons some Palestinian villages and towns refused to be hooked up to the new main water system, and may therefore not have a reliable water supply today. And, because those towns that did connect to the new system refused to contribute to the subsidization fund, Palestinian consumers pay a much higher direct cost for water than do Israelis.”
http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/marapr00/water.html
| 19 October 2009, 8:30 pm |
Fact: Syria dumps more than 4 billion barrels (bbl) of fresh water into the sea each year through waste, inefficiency and politics. This represents about 25% of their total water use.
Fact: Lebanon dumps more than 1 bbl of fresh water into the sea each year for the same reasons.
Fact: The Jordan basin which serves Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, HAS no more than 1 bbl per year yield. The population of Jordan Basin region is about 10 million people or 40% of the combined population of Lebanon and Syria.
Fact: Syria is engaged in an active program to pollute the Jordan river and the Galilee so as to poison it and limit or stop its use entirely.
Fact: When Turkey and Israel entered into a treaty to sell upwards of 100 bbl of water to Israel, neither country could so much as PAY Syria for a pipeline across their country to transport it.
Israel should abandon all attempts to bargain with Arabs over water and should instead develop nuclear or solar powered desalination. Let the Arabs sort it out for themselves.
| 19 October 2009, 8:34 pm |
Please get this right: you are talking about the UK section of Amnesty International, NOT Amnesty International itself. This is clearly shown on their Web site. National sections enjoy a large measure of autonomy, and the UK section has always been quite appalling. And before you ask: no, I am not an apologist for Amnesty International, but I do not believe they would have hosted either Ben White or the Christisons. Accuracy is important and if you want your posts to carry any weight you need to get your facts right. Are HP guest posts not checked before they go up?
| 19 October 2009, 8:36 pm |
Some Info – your “info” is wrong on just about every count. Try this for some actual info:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn5037-israel-lays-claim-to-palestines-water.html
| 19 October 2009, 8:39 pm |
I already read that article, Irie, indeed it is one that Ben White cites but, in fact, scarcely uses. So, tell me how it shows me wrong.
From an article posted on Electronic Intifada:
Villages not connected to a water network
A total of 227,500 Palestinians in 220 towns and villages in the West Bank are not connected to a water network at all, 75 percent of them in the northern West Bank. Another 190,000 Palestinians live in villages that are only partially connected to a water network. Some 20 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank are not connected to a water network.
Even in Palestinian towns and villages that have a water network, water supply is not regular most of the year. Water is supplied only some hours of the day, and sometimes on a rotational basis. In distant areas, water supply may be disconnected for days or weeks. Residents of communities with water networks hooked up to Mekorot report that the company discriminates against them, reducing water supply to Palestinian residents to enable it to meet the increased demand in the settlements.
To aggravate matters, Palestinian farmers hook up unlawfully to the water networks in Palestinian communities in Oslo-designated Area C. Israeli authorities, which are charged with enforcing the law in these areas, do not to put an end to the theft.
| 19 October 2009, 8:42 pm |
“After winning the respective countries’ (Pakistan and Afghanistan) election, they can advance to win their Muslim and Arab neighbours/brethren. If [the Taliban] can win Pakistani and Afghanistan elections fairly and win their Arab or Muslim neighbours collectively, what stops them from advancing to the United Nations Assembly to pursue their goals, dreams, philosophy and practical pursuit. All these can’t be achieved just on a day, year or decade. It will take years and years if not hundred of years. Those who start it might not finish it but at least there should be a game plan to last years.” Amnesty UK’s blogquoted by habibi.
Gobsmacked seems inadequate somehow.
| 19 October 2009, 8:45 pm |
And meanwhile, back on the ranch, Amnesty International Israel thinks it’s appropriate to be meddling in the appointment of a new head for Israel’s immigration unit.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255694839655&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
It is of course very true that water is a serious issue in the region, but it is also vital to comprehend some of the reasons behind the present situation, and one of them is the inefficient use of resources to date.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3755655,00.html
It’s also important to know that Turkey has been daming the Euphrates and diverting water from Syria for some time now and that both Jordan and the PA already receive millions of cubic metres of water annually from Israel under the terms of agreements signed with them.
‘What we need, then, are people with innovative ideas as to how to best encourage co-operation between Middle Eastern countries, and find new approaches to water politics in the Middle East.’
Very true, and Israel has some excellent water engineers who I’m sure will be only too happy to offer help and advice to countries prepared to co-operate with her. In fact I can tell you that water valves produced on my kibbutz were being installed via a third party in Jordan long before the peace treaty was signed with King Hussein. We used to file the Hebrew writing off the valves first though.
| 19 October 2009, 9:00 pm |
On p. 77 White touts the standard allegation that Israelis use more than 4x as much water as Palestinians (greedy, fat “Zionists”), when, in fact, the amount is closer to (possibly less than) 2ce as much. And Israel is a modern industrial society. Israel also has to treat all P.A. wastewater.
The Israeli government’s side of things:
| 19 October 2009, 9:03 pm |
Alright, alright Gaby C! Yes, it’s Amnesty International UK not Amnesty International. I still think the facts are still pretty disconcerting.
| 19 October 2009, 9:10 pm |
Some Info – the New Scientist has the ratio closer to 5:1. Where is your 2:1 ratio from?
| 19 October 2009, 9:23 pm |
I remember nearly a year ago Johan Hari and Jeremy Bowen seemed to have a co-ordinated item on Gaza sewage and blamed Israel for dumping the shit on the Gazans.
What Bowen failed to spot was that the BBC itself, a few months previously, had written an article about how a Gaza cesspool collapsed, killing some Palestinians (while Israel sent dredgers to clean up the mess). It featured the pathos of Palestinian Children playing near open sewers. The REASON for the poor state of Gaza sewer system was identified by the UN a year before who warned the Palestinians about the impending collapse. They provided millions of dollars in aid money to build reinforcements and relief channels. Hamas spent the money elsewhere.
| 19 October 2009, 9:26 pm |
The Israeli government, for a start. Where’s New Scientist’s info from?
| 19 October 2009, 9:33 pm |
a.
In 1967, consumption in Israel amounted to 1,411 MCM and the population stood at
2,776,000.
This is equivalent to 508 m3 per capita per year.
b.
In 2006, total consumption in Israel was 1,211 MCM, and the population was
7,117,000.
This is equivalent to 170 m3 per capita per year.
c.
In 1967, Palestinian consumption in the West Bank amounted to 60 MCM, and the
population stood at about 700,000.
This is equivalent to 85.7 m3 per capita per year.
d.
In 2006, Palestinian consumption in the West Bank was a total of about 180 MCM,
and the population was 1,800,000.
This is equivalent to 100 m’3
per capita per year.
| 19 October 2009, 9:43 pm |
Hang on! Why do Israelis need so much water anyway when they ALSO drink blood!
(sarcasm)
| 19 October 2009, 9:56 pm |
As you know i’m not a Brit. so I had never heard of John Wight or Ben White before joining in the fun and games here at Harry’s. My question is: which one of these two is worse, and how do you distinguish between the two. All I know so far is that both seem to give Whites a bad name.
| 19 October 2009, 9:58 pm |
That Amnesty blog is a goldmine of unintentional satire. This is from another post by the same author on The London Metropolitan Police:
The best ways to understand someone is to go close for a while and to stay far for a while. Going close enables you to have a better view of the person’s character, temperament and philosophy of life; staying far enables you to evaluate the person’s conduct towards you. is it of pretence or he is real and factual.
Based on these I can confidently affirm that the London metropolitan Police has fared well. People made me feel they were hostile, threatening, dehumanizing and a bunch of unfriendly cops.
However, my coming to London has changed my notion on them. They have been helpful on every inquiries that I have approached them on without even asking after my visa status. They have proved better compared to some civilians that I have approached in London.
I commend their efforts.
The blog has one comment:
You might have a good view on them because of the sect you have approached. It’s good for an activist to condemn evil and to also commend good works.
Very odd indeed.
| 19 October 2009, 10:11 pm |
Ben White. Racist? Misguided? Ignorant?
Discuss.
| 19 October 2009, 10:12 pm |
Israel has actually reduced domestic water consumption by 12% recently, saving some 100 million cubic metres.
This saving is likely to rise in the near future as the cost of every cube of water used above the 4 cubes per person per month allocation at the lower rate, has recently been raised from 7.8 shekels to 28 shekels.
At present some 75% of domestic water consumption falls within the allocated amount, with 25% being paid for at the higher rate, but this latest drastic price rise is designed to reduce consumption further.
| 19 October 2009, 10:24 pm |
Point to remember… TheWhiney is a geo-scientist whose PhD was related to the perculation of water through chalk. Yet he comes out with this garbage over ME water supplies.
| 20 October 2009, 1:19 am |
I’ve noticed that in the US they have no awareness to water shortage, which is weired. A friend who went to the US for a vacation said all the rivers/lakes/waterfalls they went to were dried up, but I haven’t ever seen anything mentioned on the American channels (Fox and CNN…..and Nickulodion) and that friend said there was nothing on TV in America. As a fan of the annoying kid who screams: “Beynatayim sogrim et hamayim!” (Meanwhile, close the water!), I find it odd.
| 20 October 2009, 7:09 am |
Yeah, they always put forth seemingly innocent sounding (”he just wants people to have water!”). But in reality he has goals that go way way beyond water. Why don’t they ever tell the whole story about these people they put up on pedestals?
| 20 October 2009, 9:05 am |
I am sure Graham (”Islam is a race”) ignoramus enjoyed this postmodern piece of trash at AI. Just shows the intellectual bankruptcy of these naive, diplomatic, and dialog types. I say ship them all to Swat in Pakistan and let them play diplomat there – not here.
Maybe the author would convert to Islam and join pro-Taliban Beverly Giesbrecht?
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/taliban-threaten-behead-canadian-hostage-new-video
| 20 October 2009, 12:37 pm |
The guy who is currently CEO of Amnesty International in Ireland stated in March 2006 that:
“In the past few months a number of commentators have suggested that grave injustice is being done to priests falsely accused of child sexual abuse. Such suggestions rightly concern fair minded people, but remarkably, no evidence of any kind has been presented to suggest that false allegations are being made or that the rights of those accused are being abused.”
He said that THREE MONTHS after a woman called Nora Wall was awarded a Cerificate of Miscarriage of Justice by the Irish Court of Criminal Appeal because she had been falsely convicted of raping a child. In 2006 Colm O’Gorman was head of “One in Four” a child abuse victim’s group. The fact that he had “forgotten” about the Nora Wall case is probably linked to the fact that she had been a Sister of Mercy i.e. a Catholic nun.
http://www.alliancesupport.org/news/archives/001858.html
However AI didn’t let that little oversight bother them. In February 2008, Colm was appointed Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland.
I wonder what it will take for Amnesty and HRW to lose their halos.
Stan