A question to the European Union
Mohamed Sid-Ahmed asks where Europe stands on the water problems in the Middle East
The freakish weather to which Europe was exposed last summer raised people's environmental concerns. As they sweltered through the longest, hottest and driest summer in living memory, Europeans were forced to contemplate the dreadful prospect of water shortage. This was not the first time the issue had risen to the fore. In 1992, Jacques Chirac introduced it as a key item on the agenda of the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio. Unfortunately, the Rio conference produced only a statement of principles, with participants unable to agree on a programme of action commensurate with the gravity of the situation.
As the water crisis became more acute, so too did the political situation in the Middle East, which now had to contend not only with the Palestinian problem but with the explosive situation in Iraq as well. Last November, former French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette hosted a symposium in Paris to study how all these crises, which might appear at first glance to be totally unrelated and distinct, interact. The theme of the symposium was "The water crisis, between war and peace".
The problem of growing scarcity of potable water has been troubling me since the mid- 1990s of the last century, particularly in regard to our region of the world with its limited resources of this precious commodity. I often asked myself whether the water crisis could become a factor in helping settle the political crises in the Middle East, instead of exacerbating them still further. In other words, could the water shortage alter the balance of power between the protagonists and create conditions that would encourage them to solve their political conflicts by peaceful rather than by military means? I also asked myself if there was a way the Middle East could turn the vast quantities of seawater with which it is surrounded into sweet, drinkable water. The region is blessed with ideal conditions for the desalination of seawater: an unlimited source of energy represented in the sunlight it enjoys all year round (which dispenses with the need to resort to nuclear energy with the dangers it represents); an endless supply of sea water; and, finally, vast stretches of desert in which to house the massive containers of potable water after it has been desalinated through a process of evaporation followed by condensation.
Unlike Europe, which is only now waking to the dangers of water scarcity, the Middle East has had to live with water scarcity throughout its history. Indeed, I believe Nasser acquired the stature he did because of his struggle to solve Egypt's water problems once and for all by building the High Dam in the face of strong, often vicious, opposition from the West. The High Dam was a pioneer project in terms of 20th century technology; a mega- project for the desalination of seawater would be a pioneer project in terms of 21st century technology. It is ludicrous that we still are unable to solve the problem of water scarcity on Earth at a time we are looking for water on Mars.
Of course, for a large-scale desalination project nor to disrupt the ecological balance, it must not go beyond certain limits. Seawater cannot be evaporated to the extent of drying up the entire sea, not the sea dried up to the extent of threatening marine life and becoming a source of pollution for, say, the entire Mediterranean basin. On the other hand, the project must be large enough for desalination to be economical and to make the cost of producing potable water through desalination lower than through any other method. Experts estimate that three rows of concave mirrors extending from Morocco to Palestine along the southern shores of the Mediterranean could produce solar energy equivalent to four times Europe's entire consumption of electricity.
There is nothing to prevent the Arabs from setting up a giant desalination project, which could be financed by Arab oil money and implemented by international expertise in the field of desalination. The project could extend from Casablanca in the west to Rafah in the east, and down to Yemen and Oman in the south. Naturally, Israel will make every possible effort to become part of the project. This would be an opportunity for the Arab parties to make Israel's participation in the project conditional on its acceptance of an equitable peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict in all its aspects. In this way, the water crisis would have played a role in settling the Arab- Israeli crisis.
A few years ago, I heard rumours that an Israeli desalination project was in the works. At the Paris symposium, I learnt that the project was already in operation. According to well- informed sources, Israel had discovered a way of desalinating seawater using neither nuclear nor solar energy, but only electricity. It had also succeeded in halving the cost of desalinating one cubic metre of sea water, from one dollar to 50 cents.
I was informed by these same sources that Israel had not erected the project alone, but with the cooperation of the United States, the European Union and Japan, that is, the entire Western world. These countries also contributed to the financing of the project, which is said to be costing billions of dollars. This means the project is not Israeli only, nor aimed at Israel and its direct environment (Palestine) only, but at wide areas of Arab land threatened by drought in the near future. It has been said that the project includes five desalination stations, four inside and one outside Israel, which will become a "bridge" to sell desalinated seawater to the surrounding region when the water crisis reaches its most critical level.
A multi-billion dollar project involving international parties is not normally undertaken in secret; after all, any state is entitled to embark on a project designed to protect it against severe drought and to seek the help of other states in realising such a project. Why then the secrecy in which Israel's desalination project has been shrouded since rumours first began surfacing a few years ago? Is it because the rumours are unfounded and no such project exists? Or is it because there is an interest in keeping it concealed? While I do not normally subscribe to conspiratorial interpretations of history, preferring to find logical, rational, explanations whenever possible, this does not mean that history is devoid of conspiracies in all circumstances.
I would like here to address the European Union in particular, because the US administration and American financial institutions in general have strong ties with Israel and can embark with it on joint ventures in secret. But this is not as easy for the EU, made up of 15 sovereign states, which are expected to reach 25 in the close future. Both the EU and Japan are concerned with their relations towards the Arab and Muslim worlds.
It should also be remembered that two contradictory logics cannot be applied at one and the same time to the Middle East. One cannot call for the conflicting parties in the Middle East to bring their positions closer to one another and to search for mutually acceptable compromises when it comes to the Arab- Israeli conflict and, then, on the issue of water, to consolidate Israel's supremacy and facilitate its attempts to overcome the impending water crisis behind the backs of the Arabs.
In the European Union's relations with the Arabs (and with the Muslims in general), no ambiguities can be tolerated when it comes to its relations with Israel. Here complete openness, transparency and candour are essential. The question I would like to ask the European Union is whether any of its member states are cooperating with Israel in a gigantic water project that is not confined to Israel proper but could extend to Arab lands in future. And, if so, is the EU ready to assume the responsibility of deepening the rift between Israel and its Arab neighbours on the issues of water, an endeavour that would make peace in the region still more difficult?
The meetings presently underway in the context of the Barcelona process could be an excellent opportunity to dissipate any misunderstandings in this connection before it is too late.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 4 - 10 December 2003 (Issue No. 667)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/667/op3.htm