A story about stealing water

Dr. Guy Bechor
July 31, 2009 (first post)
Syria

The disaster and destruction: And who should pay the price? Our Poor Kinneret? We? A story about stealing water

Now do you understand that Syria has existential interests to put a hand on the water of the Sea of Galilee, so Syrian can draw the water and irrigate fields near Damascus, Haleb and Chomes. Yes. yes, our poor Sea of Galilee that already today its water come to Israel, of course to Jordan (Pursuant to the peace agreements, we provide a fixed amount of water each year,) and in the future to Syria. If Syria will touch the Sea of Galilee the pumping from the sea will be enormous. The way Syria destroyed its economy, its table ground deep water and what not, this is how Syria will destroy our [Israel’s] main source of water.

Syria has its eyes on the Sea of Galilee, even though it is not at all interested in peace with Israel.

Syria has experienced a disastrous collapse and economic disaster; there is no other way to describe what the Syrian regime makes so much effort to conceal. The state is drying up; over the past three years no less than a quarter of a million farmers were forced to abandon their land forever and migrate to major cities. There they live in tents, entirely abandoned by the regime and the state. This data is based on a special study published by the U.N and posted on the al-Aarbiah channel, to the shocking surprise of the Arab and Syrians. These are large demographic changes, a change in the look [face] of the entire Syrian state.

As usual in the Arab world, there is no data and there is no understanding of the events that take lace under the nose and not by accident.

Let's start with the fact that the huge Euphrates River, Syria’s main water source in the past is drying up. The Turks stop its water in their territory in a line of huge dams so a small quantity that is getting smaller reaches Syria and afterwards Iraq. Within a decade the Euphrates River will be totally dry when it leaves Turkey. Even now, the river reaches Syria with contaminate water so its fishery, an important source of food and livelihood goes extinct. The water salinity increased, and often they are no longer drinking worthy. Some of the Euphrates River’s tributaries no longer exist, such as the Khabur River (also Habur) that had dried up completely. Today it is a dry sandy ravine. The Euphrates River’s Delta, the center of the Syrian population is drying up too.

Due to the drought that has been lingering for several years, the Assi River ("Rebellious," "Orontes” in Latin), which is another important source of water in the country, is drying up, its water’s salinity is increasing and is contaminated and the river’s fishery is dead. There are no fish; there is no livelihood and income. Entire villages that for hundreds of years made a living off the river and ate from it were deserted while the drought continues this year as well.

The state’s deep table rock water quality, in at least 420 thousands piracy wells that were dug by the residents over the years, has been reduced to the lowest level and cannot be used. If there is no water, there is farming, leaving the village, and moving to the city. Since there is no work there either, the distress is awful and the political pressure increases. Who wins for this is of course the Islamic Movement.

Therefore, a communal problem is added: Many of the farmers who left the villages are Kurds, which makes the problem communal. The Kurdish refugees accused the government for not doing anything for them. For several years they live in thousands of tents next to the largest cities and there is no solution for them.

It turns out that the ruling Ba’ath Party and its foolish pride is guilty of it all. Already in the 1960s the party decided to turn Syria into grain exporting country.

They saw it as a strategic goal and the victory of the Syrian agrarian revolution. Because of this they forced to shift from herding on semi-arid land, to growing grain. The regime turned a blind eye to the hundreds of thousands of wells that were dug in order to water the grain. Any economist who dared to speak out against this policy was jailed. A top Syrian economist who dared to speak out against this policy, in a semi-arid country was jailed for seven years. Woe to trouble, the government also forced growing cotton, another water guzzler.

Now, with a terrible drought, the results are overwhelming in the country (of 20-million people), that half of its citizens are farmers. Instead of 1.9 million tons of grain, they expected this year, the farmers were able to provide only 892 thousand tons, destruction in Syrian terms. This means that today Syria imports its grain, and it has no money.

The long the drought last, the more water the farmers pumped and the deep ground water table level dropped even more.

Another blow landed on the farmers: the olive trees are suffering, so their oil, the one Syria exports for generations to Europe, turned very sour, of less quality, and the demand for it dropped. The olive oil exports, one of the most important export sectors is dropping each year.

The destruction is only increasing because Syria already used its crude oil reserves that were found, there is no money for desalinization infrastructure, or help the quarter of million of miserable people tier numbers are growing.

What are the lessons from this destruction?

1. The ruling Ba’ath party that already in the 60’s wanted to establish magnificent agricultural revolution, brought about a disaster on the country. Each day that this party and the al-Assad family is ruling the country the destruction only grows.

2. Now do you understand that Syria has existential interests to put its hands on the Sea of Galilee, so it can pump its water and irrigate the fields near Damascus, Haleb and Chomes. Yes, yes, our poor Sea of Galilee that its water already today comes to Israel and of course to Jordan (We provide a fixed amount each year, pursuant to the peace agreements), and to Syria in the future. If Syria will touch the Sea of Galilee, the pumping out of it will be enormous. The way Syria destroyed its rivers, its deep ground water and what not, that will be the way it will destroy our [Israel’s] main water source. Syria has its eyes on our main water source even though it is not at all interested in peace with Israel.

3. Why this is at all our problem? Does President Obama, who wants peace between Israel and Syria, know at all about the Syrian water problem? Does Israel need to pay for the failure and the imaginative poor performance of the Ba’ath party? Only a fool will agree and accept for his water to be stolen. Are we foolish?

4. And now, when we understand how much Turkey rob Syria, would you take Turkey to moderators between us and Syria? After all, the Turks have existential interests that the Syrians will receive water from the Kinneret, it will take pressure of them. In the past when the Syrians were boiling over the fact that the Turks, against international law, stopped the flow of the Euphrates’ water the Turks discovered that the Syrians stopped the Assi river water from flowing to Turkey. Opposite. If you can, the Turks stated, we are allowed as well. Only that the Assi river is a measly river by comparison to the huge Euphrates river. For the Turks this was enough: a precedent is a precedent. They will know how to greatly use the Lake of Galilee; if there is an agreement, the Turks will tell the Syrians you take from there.

5. The Syrians are talking about the Golan Heights and the lost of Syrian honor. In fact, they are talking about something entirely different. Dare any Israeli to not know this data; woe any American to ignore the Damascus regime existential issues. If the water disappeared there, so this may also happen with the regime itself.
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Version #2 as it appeared in YnetNews:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3755655,00.html

Syria is drying up

If given the opportunity, Syria will ruin our main water source

Guy Bechor

Published:


08.03.09 / Israel Opinion

Syria is experiencing an economic holocaust. There is no other way to describe what the Syrian regime is so much trying to hide. The country is drying up, and no less than 250,000 farmers were forced in the past three years to abandon their land and migrate to the large cities. They live in tents there, completely neglected by the regime. These figures appeared in a special study undertaken by the United Nations and published on the al-Arabiya website.

The immense Euphrates River, Syria’s main source of water, is drying up. The Turks are stopping its water in their territory, so that Syria and Iraq are receiving a declining portion of the water. Within about 10 years, the river is expected to dry up completely outside Turkish territory. Today already, it reaches Syria with contaminated water and therefore its fish, an important source of livelihood, is becoming extinct.

As result of the drought that had been plaguing Syria for several years now, another important Syrian water source, the Assi (Orontes) River, is drying up as well. Its water is becoming saltier and increasingly contaminated, and its fish are dying off. And without fish, there is no livelihood. Entire villages fed by its waters for hundreds of years are simply being deserted.

Ground water in the country had reached such nadir that it is no longer possible to use the roughly 420,000 illegal wells dug by residents over the years. If there is no water, there is no agriculture; people proceed to leave the village and move to the city. As there is no work there either, the distress is terrible and political pressures builds up.

Many of the farmers leaving their villages are Kurd, which makes the problem an ethnic one. The Kurdish refugees accuse the regime of doing nothing for them. For several years now they have been living in thousands of tents near the big cities without being addressed.
Should Israel pay for Syrian failures?

It turns out that the ruling Ba’ath party is at fault for everything. During the 1960s, the party decided to turn Syria into a grain-exporting state. They viewed it as a victory of the Syrian agrarian revolution. For that reason, they forced the farmers to shift from herding, on semi-arid land, to growing grain. The regime turned a blind eye to the hundreds of thousands of wells that were dug in order to water the grain. Any economist who dared to speak out against this policy was jailed.

Now, with the terrible drought, the grim results are overwhelming this land of 20 million people, half of them farmers. Instead of the 1.9 million tons of grains they expected to produce this year, the farmers managed to supply only 892,000 tons. Ruin in Syrian terms. The implication is that Syria is importing its grains today and has no money.

Syria has an existential interest in getting its hands on the Sea of Galilee in order to get the water needed for its agricultural land. Meanwhile, the water of our poor Kinneret reaches both Israel and Jordan at this time (we provide a fixed amount every year in line with our peace treaty.) Should Syria touch the Kinneret, the amounts of water pumped out of it will be huge. As it ruined its own rivers and ground water, Syria will also ruin our main water source. It has its sights on it, even though it is uninterested in peace with Israel.

Should Israel pay for the failures and mediocrity of the Syrian Ba’ath party? Moreover, when one realizes how badly Turkey robs Syria, should we choose Turkey as the mediator between us and the Syrians? After all, Turkey has an existential interest in seeing the Syrians get the Kinneret. It will take the pressure off.

Ahead of the possible resumption of negotiations with Syria, we should know these figures and be cautious. We should hope that the Americans, who wish to advance talks on the Syrian track, will also be aware of this information.

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