Arlene Kushner on Palestinian Water Shortage Myth

From Arlene Kushner:
February 25, 2014

Facing Challenges Strong

There is no end to the challenges we are facing here, but I believe I am seeing greater resilience on the part of Israelis – in both official and unofficial positions - with regard to dealing with them.  Let this be a trend that continues and grows.

Occurrences described below touch upon significant issues; my goal is not just to report, but to provide some clarity.

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How Palestinians Use Water As A Weapon Against Israel

Yochanan Yisser, a freelance journalist and the director of Missing Peace Information, writes about How water became a weapon in Arab-Israeli conflict, noting that until now people have been content to believe claims made by Palestinian Arabs that Israel has been deliberately withholding water:

However, a thesis titled “The Politicization of the Oslo Water Agreement,” written by Lauro Burkart, a Swiss graduate of the Institute of International and Development studies in Geneva gives a more accurate and impartial picture of the topic of the scarcity of water in the Palestinian Authority. [see embedded copy of the thesis at the end of this post]

Burkart interviewed many key players in the water conflict, Palestinians and Israelis as well as representatives of NGOs and the donor countries. He also examined many original documents such as the minutes of the meetings of the joint Israeli Palestinian Water Committee (JWC).

Here are some of the most important conclusions in Burkart’s thesis:

Research Reveals How Palestinian Authority Uses Water As Political Weapon

The following by Missing Peace is reposted here with their permission:

Swiss Graduate in Thesis:
PA Uses Water as a Political Weapon

By Missing Peace

The full text of Burkart’s dissertation can be uploaded below this article. The thesis includes many original documents.
Among them the minutes of JWC meetings and signed JWC agreements.

Water theft by Palestinians on the West Bank

Until now much of the literature about the Palestinian Israeli water conflict followed either the Palestinian discourse (vast majority) or the Israeli discourse (small minority).

A thesis titled ‘The politicization of the Oslo water agreement’ written by Lauro Burkart a Swiss graduate of the Institute of International and Development studies in Geneva gives a more accurate and impartial picture of the topic of the scarcity of water in the Palestinian Authority.

Burkart interviewed many key players in the water conflict, Palestinians and Israelis as well as representatives of NGOs and the donor countries. He also examined many original documents such as the minutes of the meetings of the Joint Israeli Palestinian Water Committee (JWC).

Conclusions

Here are some of the most important conclusions in Burkart’s thesis.

The Middle East Media Sampler 7/24/2012: Duck! You're On Egyptian Candid Camera

From DG:

1) Candid Egyptian Camera

A number of bloggers have written about the MEMRI video of Egyptian actors appearing on a TV show under the pretext that it's an interview with a German TV station. Then it slips that it is really an Israeli TV show and the subjects fly into rages over the deception. In the end each one is told that it was all a joke and the hosts and producers are all good Egyptians and Muslims and all is well.