MONUMENT CENTER t, INC. r rz..-rfe "Same Location K7akzeei 45 years" • Monuments and Markers • Bronze Markers • Memorial Duplicating • Cemetery Lettering & Cleaning Shiva Dinners "(Sweet, Indulgence" baskets: 635 0 665 For Many Centuries, Much Ado About Water DOV HOCH SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS However, according to Minis- t the Paris peace talks in ter of Agriculture Yaakov Tsur, 1919, the World Zionist Organization submitted a about 60 percent of the water con- territorial plan for a Jew- sumed in Israel goes to agricul- ish State. The area is proposed ture, which costs much less to included all of the Jordan River process than potable water. There basin; the headwaters that feed are desalination plants in Eilat it and part of the Litani River in and Ashdod, the latter being able southern Lebanon. The borders to produce 20,000 CM per day, overlapped the British and sufficient for 40,000 people. According to Ms. Tamir and French mandates and didn't re- gard major population centers. former water commissioner Dan However, what they did demon- Zaslasky, within the next sever- strate was Israel's acute under- al years, more efficient desalina- tion technologies will be standing of hydro-politics. Today those same water developed. Meanwhile, the Israeli sources flow through Judea and government will probably con- Amaria and link the four coun- tinue to subsidize water costs to tries involved in the bilateral the tune of $200 million annu- Middle East peace talks, thus cre- ally. At the First PHOTO BY WZPS/SAMMY AVNISAN ating a source of International Is- conflict. "Water raeli-Palestinian is inextricably Conference on tied to territory Water in 1992, and for that rea- Boaz Wachtel, a son cannot be former assistant separated from military at- the bilateral tached at the Is- peace talks, raeli Embassy in says Marwan Washington, Haddad, head Presented a of the Palestin- plan called the ian delegation "Peace Canal." to the water Simultaneously talks. addressing both In fact, some water and secu- 33 percent of Is- rity concerns, it rael's water is A natural pool In Beith Shean Valley. suggested the from rain that falls in Judea and Samaria and building of a pipeline to carry wa- an additional 15 percent origi- ter from the elevated Atatuk nates on the Golan Heights and Baraji Lake (800 meters above in tributaries of the Jordan Riv- sea level) in eastern Turkey to er in Lebanon. Lake Tiberias (200 meters below So important is the water is- sea level) and the Yarmouk Riv- sue that the subject was dealt er on the Syrian/Jordanian bor- with independently in the multi- der. The pipeline would open up lateral talks where 40 states (12 into an open canal on the Golan of them Arab) met to discuss the Heights along the Israel-Syrian potential for regional manage- border and serve as an anti-tank ment of water resources. ditch. In addition to conveying water Meanwhile, academics and en- trepreneurs are increasingly con- to Syria, Jordan, Israel and the sidering water to be like every Palestinians, Mr Wachtel's plan other commodity — producible or called for generating hydroelec- importable: it can be produced tric power which, Mr. Wachtel through desalination or import- said, could be sold to Syria. The ed from water-rich countries like money, in turn, would go toward Turkey. paying Turkey for the imported But, according to Ora Tamir, water. Onur Gokce, the Turkish Am- legal adviser to the Israeli water commissioner and a participant bassador in Israel, says his gov- in the regional water negotiations, ernment is willing ton consider `Water is money." It canbe bound- the plan as a commercial project. lessly produced through desali- However, it clearly calls for full nation, but the process requires regional cooperation, and for Is- tremendous amounts of energy, rael to have to rely on several which current renders it drinkable transfer states for it water is is between $1-$1.25. The current highly problematic. In the past, cost of household water in Israel Syria and Iraq have protested to is about $0.30 per CM, although Turkey about the reduced flow of this price reflects substantial gov- the Euphrates river to their coun- ernment subsidies. tries due to water exports. A Nonetheless, in March 1994, President Ezer Weizman visited Turkey and took up the issue of importing water, as Foreign Min- ister Shimon Peres in April 1994. An alternative to relying on transfer states like Syria to con- vey water is being promoted by a Canadian company which last year came up with a new method of importing fresh water. With Is- rael and Libya as its first two tar- get countries, it has invented a huge, plastic sea-bound barge able to transfer 1.6 million cubic meters of water at a time-enough to fill about two-thirds of one of New York's World Trade Center towers. Called the Medusa Corpora- tion of Calgary, the company claims it can deliver water to Is- rael for bout $0.20 per CM. Tug boats would pull the barges from one country to the other, then the water would be pumped into loading facilities and later into the national water carrier. How- ever, unlike locally desalinated water, imported water must be conveyed throughout the coun- try. This would involve the same infrastructure, maintenance and energy costs that make up cur- rent water costs in Israel. Agriculture Minister Tsur feels that this solution is impractica- ble. The ministry would far pre- fer to expand its desalination programs, which according to En- ergy Minister Moshe Shahal, will solve the Israeli-Palestinian wa- ter problems within the next 20 or 30 years.L1 WZPS Rome, Jerusalem Link For TV Rome (JTA) — Rome, the Vati- can and Jerusalem were linked up for a special television "talk show" transmission that looked to the year 2000. Titled "The Threshold of Hope: Five Years From 2000," the two- hour program was arranged and broadcast by a Catholic television station, Telepace, and the Italian commercial TV network, Tele- montecarlo. The live March 15 hookup linked Rome's historic city hall, the Campidoglio, with the Vati- can across town and with Jerusalem. Participants included Christ- ian and Jewish religious figures and Italian and Israeli political leaders. They discussed issues concerning religion, tol- erance and the Middle East peace process. ❑ . CEMETERY INSTALLATION ANYWHERE IN MICHIGAN (810) 645-1770 ... Deliveries ... Call 542-8266 275 E. Frank • birmin8ham 48009 Rodnick Bros., Inc. Sweets and Sympathy from FRUIT & GIFT BASKET SPECIALISTS 4, Baskets and trays of gourmet cookies and brownies delivery available DELIVERY NATIONWIDE * JUST CALL * 810 772-4350 855-1605 .--.4 ■ 111MOr A Thoughtful Expression... 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