Reframing the Middle East Conflict; Water for Oil, part one.

From Waste To Water: Greywater Reuse In The Middle East (1)


My purpose with this post is to shift your attention from the obvious clashes to the mostly unreported movements in the back of the picture. The Big Picture. The picture that is easy to overlook as the emotions of the 'drama of the time' absorbs all our attention.
Currently, the framework is considered this; one religion versus another; Zionism's perceived self-righteous claims of (a) land versus Palestinian and (seperately) Islamic counter actions by way of political Jihad. The cycle of actions/reactions that we are currently witnessing again.
Instead, I want you to start looking at, and thinking of two other economic reasons for the conflict; water and oil.

In '95, I took a Middle East poli sci class and one of the exercises we ended up doing was a peace negotiation. We were assigned places in two camps, Israel and the Palestinians. We were given a list of issues to negotiate over and aside longstanding grievances of killings, perpetrations and expulsion were some very practical and important ones that dealt with the daily lives and livelihood of the Palestinians. One of them being water.

As water is one of the most important commodities necessary for basic living conditions, and there not being a natural abundance of it in that part of the Middle East due to climate and topography, it is actually the biggest issue here. Don't be fooled with all the clashes, acts of violence in the name of Islam or the name of Y....h, or the revenge killings on either side. That is all a 'by-product', an outcome of the attempts to control land and (water) resources.
Israel's open door immigration policy to anyone who was Jewish ensured that land had to be gained by occupation (settlements) and water to control. Even with the U.S.'s support and ever present veto at the U.N. Security Council, Israel could not, cannot just go out and take land and resources. As with politics anywhere in the world, (think yes Minister, yes Prime Minister) illegal, immoral, indecent decisions need to be reframed in order to accept general and public acceptance and legitimacy.

Mash, in a comment to the previous post, alluded to the fact that Hamas government was close to openly recognizing Israel. That act would have legitimized Hamas as the Palestinian government without question and would have put them in a position for much more open negotiations, a more visible platform to address and redress issues of the last 50yrs, at the United Nations, among other nations, in front of the world's mainstream media. This would have resulted in closer scrutiny of Israel's policies and actions, and in turn exposed them to more criticism and pressure to discuss them within someone else's framework, not their own. Theirs being one of either Zionism or survival in the face of those 'extremist Islamics' who are out to annihilate them. Never mind that they created them,themselves.

What about the calls to kill all the Jews and drive them into the ocean? What about the Palestinian 'aliya' or diaspora? By products. By products that I believe can be converted into solid material for a working nation. I do believe that that can be a one nation encompassing two peoples coming together. However, that is for a later post.
Tomorrow I will post part two; Oil. Are you already thinking what I am thinking? We'll see. It is not an easy subject. It has a long history and involves true pain and suffering of real people. On both sides. Real people who I believe to have been manipulated.

More reading material;
A Century of Zionism, from Le Monde Diplomatique
Water Issues of the Golan Heights
Water in the Middle East Conflict
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a nutshell
Research Guide: Middle East Water Issues(for those of you with a lot of time on their hands)



Footnote:
I am not familiar with Israel's current immigration policies so if anyone has a link or information to share, please comment and let us know.