The Water Card

Peace negotiations could bring

added water to the region.

DIANA LIEBERMAN
StaffWriter

A

fter fighting in five wars
and seeing friends and fam-
ily members killed, Shaul
Arlosoroff has a great desire
for peace in the Middle East. •
However, in his case, he has other
reasons for seeking stability. For most of
his life, he has worked to bring fresh
water to Israel's parched cities and farms.
And, if the region does achieve peace, a
whole new source of fresh water could
become available through Lebanon.
The recent death of Syria's leader
Hafez al-Assad — whom Arlosoroff
termed "the greatest single obstacle to-
peace" — brings hope for renewed
bargaining. Although it is still unclear
in what direction Syria's leaders will
head now, the country's southwest cor-
ner, from the Golan to Damascus, has
a scarcity of water, making this a pos-
sible bargaining chip for Israel in
negotiations.

PEACE TALKS from page 22

Knesset member Yuval Steinitz of
the right-wing Likud Party called
Ehud Barak irresponsible "when he
virtually pleaded with Assad to take
the Golan Heights, even though he
had known that his days were num-
bered."
But others say that for the past two
years, Israel strove to reach an agree-
ment with Assad precisely for that
reason. Israeli intelligence believed
that it would be easier for Assad's suc-
cessor to implement a peace agree-
ment signed by Assad than to negoti-
ate on his own, said Ze'ev Schiff, mil-
itary analyst for the Israeli daily

Ha'aretz.
However, despite Israel's willing-
ness to make concessions, politicians
and intellectuals on both the right
and left agree that Assad bore the
responsibility for the futile peace talks
with Israel.
But Itamar Rabinovich, Israel's for-
mer ambassador to the United States,
a leading expert on Syria and former
head of the Israeli negotiating team in
talks with Syria, said Assad deserved
some credit for having "rehabilitated

6/16
2000

24

Arlosoroff, now chairman of the
Israel Association of Water Engineers,
began his career in Israel's municipal
and private water agencies, followed
by 12 years of managing community
water and sanitation programs for the
World Bank. Through these years, he
has introduced revolutionary ideas to
conserve and recycle what little fresh
water is available in Israel and other
desert countries. He takes pride in
Israel surviving on a very limited fresh
water supply.
On an 11-city tour of the United
States financed by American busi-
nessman Ronald Lauder and the
Jewish National Fund, Arlosoroff
spoke at a private home and at the
Jewish News office on Monday. He
said Israel's natural fresh water supply
is so low for its six million residents,
it is among those classed by the
World Bank as "acute." That would
seem to inhibit development, he said.
However, the country's per capita
income has risen to about $17,000.

in recent years the idea of peace with
Israel." However, added Rabinovich,
"Assad had set a price and terms
which everyone would find difficult
to match."
Regional Development Minister
Shimon Peres, also a former prime
minister, believes Assad wanted to
make peace, but failed to make the
necessary compromise. "The Golan
was actually handed over to him, but
he wanted the Sea of Galilee as well,
and that was his very grave mistake."

Competition Lurks

But was it a mistake or a calculated
maneuver?
Three months ago, AsSad met
President Clinton in Geneva for.what
had turned our to be his last opportu-
.
nity to strike a deal with Israel.
"History will tell whether the fail-
ure of the Geneva meeting with
Clinton was all due to Assad's insis-
tence on the last meter of the Sea of
Galilee, or whether it was also a result
of both mental and physical fatigue,"
said Oded Granot, Arab affairs corre-
spondent for the Israeli newspaper

Ma'ariv.

Among the successful strategies for
meeting Israel's fresh water needs have
been government-administered
rationing, greater water-use efficien-
cies, limited desalinization, rainwater
harvesting and wastewater recycling.
"In other parts of the world, sewage
is not considered a source of water,"
Arlosoroff said of this last and most
controversial tactic. By 2005, there
should not be any flow of human
waste into the ocean
from Israel, he pre-
dicted.
Israel, Jordan and
the Palestinian lands
that Arlosoroff refers
to as Palestine are
stuck in a "zero-sum
situation" relating to
water — there is
only a limited
amount of it and no
way to get more,
Shaul Arlosoroff
hindering growth.
Now the region is
on the brink of a great opportunity, he
said. If Israel and its neighbors are able
to achieve peace, Israel could negotiate
for access to fresh water from the
Lebanese river, the Litani, which flows
into the hill region of thy. southern
Bekaa Valley. Currently, after it pro-
duces hydroelectric power, the Litani's

waters are discharged into the
Mediterranean.
"If there should be peace, Israel
could buy water after the hydroelectric
power has been produced, and distrib-
ute it to Jordan and Palestine,"
Arlosoroff said. "This is the No. 1
opportunity to escape from the zero-
sum game. But it cannot be done
without peace with Israel."
If Israel fails to secure rights to the
Litani water, large-scale
desalinization of salt water
would be the next logical step,
he said.
However, this is a very
expensive process. "Israel could
afford it," he said, "but the
other two [Jordan and
Palestine] could not."
Some small-scale desaliniza-
tion efforts already have taken
place in Eilat, while Israeli sci-
entists have found ways to raise
certain crops, such as tomatoes
and tilapia (a fish), with salt or
brackish (part-salt) water.
"So far, JNF funding has saved
Israel hundreds of millions of dollars,"
Arlosoroff said. "Not only in the rain
harvest and re-use programs, but also
the money we have saved in not hav-
ing to build large-scale desalinization
plants."

Granot speculated that Assad felt
the smooth transition of power to his
son was a higher priority than peace
with Israel. That could have been the
background for this past year's crack-
down on potential opponents to
Bashar under the guise of "eradicating
corruption."
Many wonder, however, whether
Bashar has the stomach to continue
his father's tradition of brutally elimi-
nating the competition.
During his four years of medical
studies in London, Bashar became
familiar with Western democracy.
This, experts agreed, would undoubt-
edly mold Bashar's style of govern-
ment.
Bashar, like King Abdullah of
Jordan, is thought of as part of a new
generation of Arab ruler = more
Western-oriented than their predeces-
sors.
Bashar's best-known contribution
to a potential new spirit in Damascus .
was introducing the Internet to Syria
— although its use is still very limited
and under strict control of the state.
"Prospects for an initial success are
good, but Bashar's success in estab-
lishing a stable regime and coping

with rivals and challenges is still
doubtful," said Rabinovich.
Sisser of Tel Aviv University won-
ders how long Bashar, who is
described as mild-mannered, shy and
intellectual, will survive as president.
"Can a country like Syria be ruled by
a person who does not spread terror,
and will Bashar eventually learn to
spread terror?" Sisser asked.
Sisser counted among Bashar's
potential opponents senior officers
and politicians, such as Deputy
President Abdel-Halim Khaddam and
former head of intelligence Ali
Douba, who may declare himself a
candidate for the presidency.

❑

Local Thoughts •

Hopeful that Syria will continue with
"the strategic choice" of pursuing
peace with Israel, Allan Gale of the
Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit said domestic
politiCs in Syria also have to be in
-
order, a rough job for Bashar.
"Syria is a republic," Gale said.
"For Assad to appoint the son as suc-
cessor is something that may not have
universal support there."

❑

