#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #ARGENTINA #ANARCHISM #LIBRARY #News #Journal #Update - (en) Argentina, FORA, organizacion-obrera #94: HIDDEN GENOCIDES: THE WAR FOR WATER (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 "This character came out of my camp life, a typical kid of those days; barefoot,

destitute and deprived.  ---- created this character so that I would never forget
where I come from" Naji al-Ali[1]. ---- If we squint our eyes we can glimpse a
common thread in the vertiginous present that we live. Previous issues of the
newspaper Organización Obrera have realized that the socio-environmental problem
is something more than the claims of a group of lyrical people who demand healthy
territories in the face of "more urgent" problems or "that correspond to the
working class" (issues January/February , May/June 2022, to name a few). What
happens with the indigenous communities of Abya Yala[2]It is not an isolated
event: the war for water resources is silent but highly effective; not only in
the displacement of communities but also in the lack of discussion about new
modes of production that are not annihilating for the beings that inhabit this
celestial body that we call earth.

Thus, geopolitical borders are blurred in the face of extractivist models that
seek to increase their production, mask the products they sell ( green
washing[3]) or carry out operations to exploit common goods in territories where
legislation, needs or ignorance of politics vernacular give free rein and bulge
their already full pockets. From the sugar mills like Ledesma, through the
mega-mining companies, the landowners who promote monoculture to murderous
factories like Porta (Córdoba, Argentina), the "environmental problem" transcends
not only interprovincial lines: it is a fundamental debate where the working
class must be a participant if there is that desire or longing for transformation.

But this journey does not start in Abya Yala but in the Middle East. That place
that we sometimes look at with some curiosity and that we think of as remote and
incomprehensible has problems in common with those of us who inhabit the pampas.

Mekorot: Water Murders in the West Bank
Mekorot (Hebrew: ??????) is Israel's national water company. It was founded in
1937. It supplies 80% of Israel's drinking water. It is worth asking ourselves,
to whom does it provide it? The Palestinian authorities have denounced that the
company not only performs selective water cuts, but also that its provision is
infinitely less for Palestinians than for Israelis. An example of this is that
the water consumption of Palestinians in the West Bank is between 20 and 73
liters per person per day, below the 100 liters recommended by the World Health
Organization. Mekorot is the only water supply company in the region, a fact that
shows the importance of water analysis as a geopolitical factor that not only
generates regional war conflicts but also marks the new apartheids of the 21st
century (Méndez & Montañez, 2018).

The Israeli settlers who live in the West Bank[4]use six times more water than
the 2.6 million Palestinians who live there, a fact that clearly shows the
appropriation of water resources, their illegal exploitation and the need on the
part of the Palestinian authorities to "buy" water from Mekorot for survival
(Pérez, 2014).

According to Amnesty International , the legacy of 50 years of Israeli occupation
has left in the territories inhabited by Palestinian families has been
colonialist, violative and intentional because the absence of safe water causes
forced displacement of social groups dedicated to agricultural practices. An
example of this is the military order number 158 of the Israeli government (1967)
that referred to the impossibility of the Palestinian population in the
construction of water supplies that did not have the permission of Israel. It
would be redundant to clarify that obtaining such permission is impossible.

"The Palestinian population living under Israeli military occupation has
continued to suffer the devastating consequences of this order to this day. It
cannot drill new wells, install pumps or deepen existing wells, and it is denied
access to the Jordan River and freshwater springs. Israel even controls the
accumulation of rainwater in most of the West Bank, and the Israeli army
frequently destroys the cisterns owned by Palestinian communities for this
purpose. As a result, some 180 Palestinian communities in rural areas of the
occupied West Bank have no access to running water, according to the UN Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Even in cities and towns
connected to the water supply network, the pipes are often dry" (Amnesty
International , 2017) .

Israel's control of water resources is absolutely arbitrary. An example of this
was the cutting carried out in 2016 at the beginning of Ramadan[5]in some 30
villages in Jenin and Nablus. Cutting off the water during that month is
extremely violent since it is a space for family gatherings (Iftar[6]) where the
members share food and wait for the Sahur to go to bed. It should be noted that
temperatures are around 50 degrees Celsius during the season, a fact that makes
it impossible for all the beings that inhabit the territory to survive without a
supply of water.

The wells where Mekorot operates (42 in the West Bank) used to depend on the
villages, being in the hands of the communities.

"The Israeli project has been a colonialist project since 1947, that is how that
State was founded, which was a catastrophe for Palestinian society, when around
700,000 Palestinians were displaced. This colonial project does not end to this
day, it continues to expand by leaps and bounds through appropriation of land and
resources. It is an occupation that implements apartheid» ( Verónica Raffaelli ,
2022).

The situation is especially critical in refugee camps where the absence of water
can last for days, making it impossible for people not only to clean themselves
but also to carry out basic tasks necessary for survival ( Fight for water in
Palestine | EL PAÍS (elpais.com) ) ). The water used by Palestinians is not safe:
it has high levels of nitrate and chloride causing damage to health (Nassar, 2014).

"Gaza has long suffered from severe water problems, with its aquifer polluted by
sewage, chemicals and seawater and the territory's three desalination plants
unable to meet demand. To drink, most citizens depend on imported, bottled water»
(UNCTAD, 2014: 6).

Surely, curious readers, at this point you are wondering, what do the workers of
the humid pampas have to do with the lack of water in the West Bank? The answer
is simple: after the international tour of Wado de Pedro (Minister of the
Interior), the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan signed a state agreement with
Mekorot for water management. Something is rotting in Denmark and it has nothing
to do with Hamlet.

During the month of May (2022), in a meeting attended by the director of CFI
Programs, Teresa Oyhamburu; Israel's ambassador to Argentina, Eyal Sela; the
deputy head of the mission of the Embassy of Israel in Argentina, Adam Levene;
the honorary consul of Mendoza, Andrés Ostropolsky; the coordinator of
International Special Projects of Mekorot, Diego Berger; the director of
International Business at Mekorot, Barak Graber; and the president of the
Argentine-Israeli Chamber of Commerce, Mario Montoto; de Pedro said: "The future
is linked to responsible and intelligent management of natural resources, and the
most essential is water (...) this type of agreement is that they are the basis
for going province by province, generating awareness that water management must
become a state policy".

Mekorot rubs his hands together.

"With climate change, we can see that we have more and more periods of drought,
along with periods of rain that produce floods. Argentina has such a large
geography that we have two thirds of arid territory, but many regions have
productive potential, while others have excess water» ( De Pedro , 2022).

For the Minister of the Interior, a solution to climate change is to sell water
resources to private companies with dark interests. It should be noted that
characters such as Malena Galmarini (owner of Aysa) think of water as a "primary
by-product, and it is beginning to be valued as a commodity. We have the
responsibility to transport this resource from one area of Argentina to another
so that everyone has access to water, and also to be able to take it to other
countries of the Southern Cone".

 From the unification and control of domestic and industrial water consumption,
"priorities" are set . Priorities that will be established by those who place the
gold spools just as they do in the West Bank. 6 initial stages of implementation
were designed for the agreement:

Study of the current state of the sector and water balance.
Potential and projections of water resources (groundwater and surface water)
2030-2050.
Water demand projections 2030-2050.
Concepts and regulations of the water economy.
Water balance and alternative water supply systems.
Economic analysis of the approved water supply scheme.
The secretary general of the Federal Investment Council (CFI), Ignacio Lamothe ,
regarding the agreement mentioned: "Israel's most important exploitation is the
use of heads to see how to occupy the water resource, and this is what we want to
convey" . It is not necessary to be an academic experienced in content analysis
to understand what is behind the agreement that will "save" Argentina from
"climate change".

Will we be able to organize ourselves to fight these companies that extractivist
colonialism comes from the hand of their promises or will it happen to us like
Handala and we will be left small, thirsty and without land to cultivate?

Looking at the Middle East is looking at ourselves with our own eyes: after all,
the configuration of the territories has not been arranged by those who inhabit them.

Calling for the workers' organization also means calling for a good life for us
and others. Without water, without air, without earth, without fire there is no
possible existence. Organizing is, then, having the ability to prepare the ground
to sow again. Sow values of hospitality (Vilca, 2020) to envision new horizons of
living.

Bibliography
Report on UNCTAD Assistance to the Palestinian People: Evolution of the Economy
of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (2017). TD/B/64/4. Geneva: United Nations.
Retrieved from: https://unctad.org/meetings/es/SessionalDocuments/tdb64d4_es.pdf

Mendez, MA, & Montanez, JR (2018). Palestinian-Israeli conflict in light of
hydropolitics and the violation of the right to water. International Studies, 50
(190), 107-124. Retrieved from:
https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6547914

Nassar, W.(2014). The water crisis in Gaza worsens. Al-Jazeera chain. Retrieved
from:
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2014/03/pictures-gaza-water-crisis-wors-201432673053211982.html

Perez, I. (2014). Water apartheid in Palestine (eldiario.es)

Vilca, Mario (2020). Pachacuti or "boltearse the earth". Ancient ways of
inhabiting the world. R. Kusch Institute. National University of Jujuy.

[1]Naji al Ali was born in the village of al-Shajara, in Galilee, in 1937. In
1948, after the declaration of the State of Israel, he was forced into exile with
his family in Lebanon, in the refugee camp of Ain al-Helwa. The character
portrayed in the note, Handala, is a ten-year-old Palestinian boy who does not
grow up. Naji explained that the ten-year-old boy was his age when he was forced
to leave Palestine and that he will not grow up until he can return to his
homeland. On January 22, 1987, Naji al-Ali was on his way to the headquarters of
al-Qabas newspaper in London when he was shot outside his office. He was taken to
the hospital and remained in a coma until he died later that year on August 29.
Font:In Memoriam: Naji al-Ali, one of the great Palestinian cartoonists,
assassinated 32 years ago (palestinalibre.org)
[2]Etymologically the word Abya Yala comes from two words: "Abe" which means
blood and "Yala" which means space, territory. So it would mean land of blood.
However, it has other meanings such as: land in full maturity, land of vital
blood, land of life, noble land that welcomes everyone. Also saved territory,
preferred, loved, and as a land in permanent youth. Source: Alice Dictionary >
Entries (uc.pt)
[3]Greenwashing is a green marketing practice intended to create an illusory
image of ecological responsibility. Source: Greenwashing: definition and examples
(selectra.com)
[4]At the beginning of the 20th century, with the aim of expelling the Ottoman
Empire from the Middle East, the British supported an Arab rebellion against the
Turks. In 1916, the British and French secretly divided up the territory of the
Middle East. The following year, England, with the aim of persuading the United
States to participate in the war, issued the Balfour Declaration. The document
promises to facilitate the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the
Jewish people. The Palestinians see in the presence of the Jews an imposition of
British colonialism. After the Holocaust, the UN approves the partition of
Palestine into two states, a fact that is not accepted by Palestine. Hostilities
break out and, in May 1948, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion declares the
independence of the State of Israel. Hours later, seven Arab nations declare war
on Israel, leaving the latter victorious. The result is the expansion of Israel's
borders and the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians. Font:How did the conflict
between Palestine and Israel arise? - UDEP Today
[5]During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims strengthen their relationship with
Allah through fasting, selfless actions, and prayer.
[6]Iftar (Arabic: ?????), refers to the nightly meal with which the daily fast is
broken during the Islamic month of Ramadan. It is done in a communal way and
takes place after the maghrib (sunset).

https://organizacion-obrera.fora.com.ar/2022/11/07/genocidios-ocultos-la-guerra-por-el-agua/
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