Israel has a serious water shortage already, and is using up or slowly destroying available resources even as its population grows. Even worse, making peace with either Syria or the Palestinians would seriously jeopardize even the current amount of water available to Israel, and if peace is made with both enemies, will devastate Israel’s water infrastructure and probably destroy its agricultural sector.

I’ve lived in Israel during droughts and have walked so far into the Kinneret because the water level was low, that I understood just how Jesus would have walked on water. I’ve also watched as the Dead Sea has become a shadow of its former self over a period of decades. Israel’s leadership has its head in the sand about water issues, as the State Comptroller has repeatedly indicated but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem.

I urge everybody to skim and read some of the articles and content from the following links, and do some googling of your own for more information.

Jewish Virtual Library- lots of links

Waternet – lots of links

The Government’s own take on the issue, with a couple of very telling charts

By the way, a good portion of this story is simply mismanagement of resources by the Israeli government.

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themiddle

2 Comments

  • Um, whatever.

    I was at the Kinneret in feb and it was so full it was nearly flooding the road. So, how is it a shadow of its former self?

  • Um, it’s overflowing now, but it was touch and go there for a couple of years just a about 3 years ago. Did you read any of the links I provided or did you think a visit to the Kinneret would be sufficient? I used to live on the Kinneret and can assure you that when the water isn’t flowing in, it isn’t flowing in. If you want to be extra scared, consider that Netanyahu and Rabin were both on the verge of peace agreements with Syria that would have returned the Golan Heights and interrupted significant sources of water for Israel.