Report: Israel, Turkey must form pro-Western water alliance
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, October 10, 2000
WASHINGTON — Turkey and Israel must lead a pro-Western alliance that
will impose a water regime on the rest of the Middle East, a new report
says.
The report, issued by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political
Studies, said such an alliance would also comprise Jordan and Lebanon and
include a defense pact to guarantee regional water supplies. The
U.S.-supported regime would insist on Lebanon's independence from
neighboring Syria and maintain deterrence against the Baathist regimes in
Damascus and Baghdad.
"Its heart would have to be concrete military coordination, including
mutual defense agreements over regional water supplies," the report,
authored by Paul Michael Wihbey and Ilan Berman, said. "In other words, the
allies, supported by the U.S., would have to make their plans regarding
water as well as regarding other vital issues, and impose them on
opponents."
The institute is based in Washington and Jerusalem.
The report warns that Syrian efforts to gain control over such rivers as
the Jordan and the Euphrates and Tigris threaten both Israel and Turkey.
Syria is joined by Iraq in the campaign for water rights over the Euphrates
and Tigris.
"It is all too clear that were Syria to gain its objectives, the result
would be less an efficient use of the region's water [much less a fair one]
that it would be the political-military eclipse of Israel, Jordan, and to a
lesser extent, Turkey as well," the report said.
The report urges Israel and Turkey -- backed by the United States -- to
free Lebanon from Syria's influence. Lebanon has one of the largest water
reserves in the Middle East. Currently, Syria takes much of Lebanon's water
resources, including the Orontes river in the north. The Orontes flows
through Syria to Turkey.
Israel and Turkey, however, are unaware of the need for cooperation in
establishing a regional water regime. The report said neither country is
being encouraged by the United States.
"Such a plan, of course, would have to begin with restoring the
independence of Lebanon," the report said. "Turkey seems not to have
entertained the thought, while Israel is grappling with whether to maintain
its own independence."
Tuesday, October 10, 2000
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