One benefit of direct communication via the Internet is that you get to hear what people on the other side actually think. Feeding on your own side’s mainstream media sources hardly ever reflects that.
Today, while tweeting with Sarah from Ramallah, we got to the topic of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. When I mentioned that Gaza was a bad precendent for withdrawl, she mentioned that “Gaza doesn’t count. It was not a “withdrawl”; they got the settlers out for other reaons (mostly water) and sealed Gaza up.”
“Water???” That was my initial reaction. Never sure if I’m really up to things, I went and asked IsraeliDad, who came back with the same “Huh? Water???” reaction. I asked, and Sarah was kind enough to point me in the direction of a few articles about the topic.
One of them, by an Israeli reporter who most Palestinians seem to respect, Amira Hess, explained the issue in this article:
On the eve of the evacuation of settlements from the Gaza Strip, two assumptions relating to water sources took wing among Palestinians. The first: behind Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s decision to leave the Strip lies the fact that the supply of potable water, which was consumed almost exclusively by the settlers, has dwindled. The second: once the settlers leave, the Palestinians’ water problems have been solved.
These assumptions have been circulating from one neighborhood to the next and from one conversation to the next, acquiring credibility, and finally turning into solid truths in the eyes of many. And it is hard to argue, especially against the second, “positive” assumption.
The serious shortage of water in the Gaza Strip is apparently fertile ground for the creation of legends – a kind of refuge from the harsh reality.
I have to say, it never ceases to amaze me, the misperceptions and misconceptions that each side holds about the other and sees it as solid truth. Today I’ve learnt that many Palestinians truly believe that Israel withdrew from Gaza because the settlers ran out of pottable water.
Ok, as the joke goes, now go tell them you don’t have a sister… Let’s see -
1. There is water shortage all over Israel – no one is planning to withdraw out of Tel Aviv or Beer Sheva due to that.
2. If water had been the problem for the settlers – providing them with water wouldn’t have been much of a problem. Pipes, tankers, you name it – Israel manages to get water to tens of thousands of its people living in the desert and to move water all over the country.
3. If we were really pressed for water, we would have conquered Lebanon…. Kidding! Kidding! Joke alert! It would be an internal joke here, I guess. When I learnt that people in the Arab world think that Israel was after the water of Lebanon, I was just as surprised. On a more serious note, Israel is at the spearhead of water desalinastion solutions. It’s where we look towards and it’s so much cheaper than running wars for water.
Lord knows there have been reasons enough to withdraw from Gaza, totally unrelated to water. Now, I don’t claim to have had access to Sharon’s mind, but as an Israeli citizen, I can tell you that the entire country here was sure that the intent was to move towards a total peace agreement. Talks were underway about the next settlements to be evacuated in the West Bank. Gaza was meant to be a test case. Some were overjoyed about the possibility of moving towards a complete peace agreement and total withdrawal. Others were appaled and terrified. They all thought this was where we were going though.
