[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 110 (Wednesday, August 10, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 ANCIENT WATER WOES LOOM IN THE MIDEAST

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, recently, our former colleague, Tim 
Wirth, now Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, sent me a copy 
of an article by Holger Jensen from the Washington Times titled, 
``Ancient water woes loom in the Mideast.''
  Since Mr. Jensen is international editor of the Rocky Mountain News 
in Denver, I assume the article may have originally appeared in that 
newspaper.
  It outlines, in brief, some of the water problems in the Middle East.
  It is of more than casual interest that Ben-Gurion University in 
Beer-Sheva, Israel was asked by the United Nations to take a look at 
the water situation in the Middle East, and they came back with a study 
that says that short-term various answers can be found, but, long-term, 
the Middle East will have to rely on desalinated water from the ocean.
  That is why the bill that passed the Senate recently, that I had the 
honor to be the chief sponsor of, calling for increased research on 
converting salt water to fresh water at less expense, is so important.
  I ask to insert Mr. Jensen's observations into the Record at this 
point.
  The article follows:

               [From the Washington Times, July 29, 1994]

                 Ancient Water Woes Loom in the Mideast

                           (By Holger Jensen)

       The handshake in Washington between Jordan's King Hussein 
     and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is another milestone 
     on the road to Middle East peace, though the two countries 
     have had secret contacts for years.
       It puts added pressure on Syria to stop stalling and end 
     its state of belligerence with Israel. And it further 
     isolates Iraq--Saddam Hussein cannot be happy that his most 
     important Gulf war ally, and sanctions busting neighbor, is 
     back in the American camp.
       Much of the groundwork for the Hussein-Rabin summit was 
     laid at negotiations last week in an air-conditioned tent 
     straddling the border between Israel and Jordan. And one 
     incident there illustrated that not all their problems will 
     be easily solved.
       Munther Haddadin, a senior Jordanian delegate, refused to 
     eat lunch provided by the Israelis because it contained 
     vegetables he claimed were irrigated with Jordanian water. He 
     flatly said ``no'' to the Israeli food and admonished others 
     who ate it.
       Water, or rather the lack of it, has caused more conflict 
     in the arid Middle East than religion, oil or the quest for a 
     Palestinian homeland. Water-stressed countries have 
     traditionally taken up arms to capture neighboring oases, and 
     every peace agreement in the region requires provisions for 
     water-sharing.
       The Code of Hammurabi, written in 1790 BC, contains among 
     other things the world's first known water-sharing agreement 
     in ancient Sumeria. The Arab-Israeli peace talks that began 
     in Madrid two years ago created a working group on water 
     resources. And the peace pact Israel signed with the PLO also 
     addresses water rights.
       Unfortunately, few disputes have been resolved so far. 
     Peter Gleick, a water expert with the Pacific Institute for 
     Studies in Development, Environment and Security in Oakland, 
     Calf., warned Congress recently that there had been ``a 
     depressing lack of progress'' in this arena, ``which contains 
     the seeds of another war.''
       At present, Israel gets two-thirds of its water from the 
     occupied territories. So much of the Jordan River has been 
     diverted, it is a trickle by the time it reaches the Red Sea. 
     Now the Israelis are drilling deep into the underground 
     aquifers beneath the West Bank, piping away the lifeblood of 
     what will one day become a Palestinian state.
       The same is happening on the Mediterranean coast. 
     Overpumping has so depleted aquifers beneath the Gaza Strip, 
     all the well water there is brackish and nearly unfit for 
     human consumption.
       In June, the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for 
     Western Asia issued a report harshly criticizing Israel for 
     stealing water from the Arabs. It named Lebanon, the West 
     Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights as being the chief victims 
     of a ``continued and abnormal increase in Israeli 
     consumption.''
       The outlook is not all bleak, however. Normalization of 
     ties between Israel and Jordan may revive an ambitious 
     scheme--mothballed by Arab opposition a decade ago--to build 
     opposition a decade ago--to build three canals from the Red 
     Sea and the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea.
       The Dead Sea, shared by Jordan and Israel, is actually a 
     great lake lying 1,320 feet beneath sea level. The drop in 
     elevation could generate enough electricity to run massive 
     desalinization plants that would produce more than half the 
     fresh water consumed by both Israelis and Palestinians.
       Italy has offered to fund a feasibility study for one or 
     the canals and the World Bank is willing to underwrite part 
     of the $5.5 billion cost. Anything that removes water from 
     the list of things to fight over will be worth the 
     price.

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