Israel hasn't honored the agreement it signed and does abide by international law. The roots of Gaza’s water problem lie in the over-population of the area, due to a high influx of refugees in 1948, when approximately 200,000 people fled to Gaza from the Jaffa and Beersheva areas of what is now Israel, following Israel’s War of Independence. The original population of the Gaza Strip at that time was 80,000 people, thus this represented an increase of some 250%. Today, over three quarters of the estimated Gazan population of 1.4 million are registered refugees. The Gaza Strip is a very small area of land with a total area of only 360 square kilometres (roughly 150 square miles - ed.). It is underlain by a shallow aquifer, which is contiguous with the Israeli Coastal Aquifer to the north. Gaza is the “downstream user” of the Coastal Aquifer system, and hence water abstraction in Gaza does not affect Israeli water supplies. The Gaza Aquifer has a natural recharge rate of approximately 65 million cubic meters (MCM) of water per year from rainfall and lateral inflow of water from Israel and Egypt. This aquifer is essentially the only source of fresh water in the Gaza Strip. The water situation in the West Bank is almost the exact inverse of Gaza, in that there are relatively abundant water resources in the Mountain Aquifer system and Jordan River, but there is very little access to or sovereignty over them. This is due to the fact that Palestinians have been denied any access to the Jordan River waters since 1967, and 80% of the Mountain Aquifer water is utilized by Israel, which is downstream of the West Bank in terms of water usage. Thus control over water resources was very tight during the Israeli administration (1967 - 1995), with only 23 licenses being granted for new wells, and the number of working wells, in fact, decreasing from 413 in 1967, to 300 by 1983. Olmert, Sharon’s heir, has also avowed his commitment to the ideal of ‘Eretz Israel’ saying that “Only a person in whose soul Eretz Yisrael burns knows the pain of letting go of our ancestral heritage;” and explaining: “I believed, and to this day still believe, in our people’s eternal and historic right to this entire land.” What can be perceived here is that many of Israel’s leaders, while appearing to make concessions to the Palestinians, have in fact retained an ideological commitment to ‘Eretz Israel from the river to the sea,’ and have concentrated their policy towards creating ‘facts on the ground’ that will make life for the Palestinians impossible, hence creating the ‘positive conditions’ required to induce people to leave. http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1211#nb10

That is an interesting plan....I wonder if it would work? Getting the IDF and Palestinian police to cooperate on anything is bound to be tough though....and considering Israel is in political turmoil right now, and Hamas representing the Palestinians, it won't be easy to find 2 people who can talk...

Barak's flight from Lebanon made a future major war with Hezbollah a certainty. Disengagement from Gaza has done the same thing. Already, Hezbollah has trained Hamas and Fatah. Already, vast amounts of weapons have arrived in Gaza. The next war will be on two fronts, unless things change QUICKLY. Count on it.

"the supply of water from Israel has declined by approximately half from 1998 to 2004 in breach of the Oslo Accords" You're such a WHINER. I expect this is another lie, but if not, I should point out that Oslo CUT BOTH WAYS. You see, if you violate a treaty, you don't get to benefit from it! Poor baby. Anyway, since you and your buddies started your latest jihads ("intifadehs"), I guess your infrastructure suffered. Maybe ... you shouldn't have started your jihads. Oh yeah, don't destroy greenhouses, you idiot.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3392229,00.html He did a great essay, and the TBs are especially valuable on "stolen water."

Hello again my friend.... this is not new, untill 2001 they used to run joint partols all through the west bank and gaza, with nearly no incidents......... man, all of them talk, they just don't do it infront of the camera, how do you think palestinian ministers including hamas members travel and go places?.....they talk to each other all the time, they have to,,,,our lives are tangled together too much not to .... this plan could work if someone takes it seriously..............needless bloodshed will lead no where.....

do a reality check.You think the rest of the world is going to sit around and watch you do the stuff you did last year in Lebanon?

"do a reality check.You think the rest of the world is going to sit around and watch you do the stuff you did last year in Lebanon?" Oh, I think "the world" will sit around for genocide in Dharfur. "The world," you see, is mostly unscrupulous. Europe will do business with anyone regarding anything. Israel just has to sell its position well, which it should do without apologies. Lemme ask you a question, "ralph": do you think that the US is prepared to give up its "secret" basing rights in Israel to protect the "Palestinians"?

And how about 'love your neighbor as yourself' and what about these lovely words " do to others what you would have them do to you." much nicer , but as Jesus states ' the measure you measure out to others will be measured out to you.' Now surely that would make us all generous of others if not only for the purpose of our own interest.

You see what America has done when 9-11 happen. We screwd up but the idea was right. Politics are now trying to run the war. Rules of engagement. It sucks. General Patton would make short term of your war if he was alive. And our war too. But then again your pollitics wants to run the war too. I think we need to look back at history to learn.

It was Hizbullah which put its rocket launchers in civilian neighborhoods! And forced people to stay in their homes so there would be casualties! The IDF was very careful in pinpointing targets.

Our 'neighhbors' aren't throwing garbage on our lawn nor letting their dog run free - THEY ARE ATTACKING US WITH ROCKETS!!!

You have displayed contempt for an entire people based on their race and the passionate lunatics who 'represent' them. Open your eyes to the bigger picture and have compassion for fellow human beings. For example, if I had your attitude, then I would hate Americans and think that they should "get it good and proper" because of their outrageously blood thirsty military actions of the past decade and century. However I am not like this. How could the world operate on this principle?

I have same idea with her ! anyone wants fight ? Atilla Karagözoğlu

You sound like a reasonable guy. How many like you are out there in Gaza? Not you, to start with, residing in Nablus. But how many in Gaza? Not enough to influence anybody in power. The problem is that there are too many subgroups that it's impossible to reach any agreement among them. So what's in the future? A provocation to suck the IDF into that minefield? Personally I don't see an end to this. The Jews are not leaving and the Arabs are not giving up on the territory. Stalemate.

J, from your comfy perch in Australia (and I don't hold against you your country's murder of the Aborigines--I'm not like that), you take a swipe at the US and lecture others on ethics. Your criticism of the US is telling. If any country has been doing good by war in the past century, it is the US. Europe, well, there's that disaster of WW1 with its "trench warfare." The US helped near the end, in defense of long-time allies. Then WW2, where Germany, with an ideology similar to the current "Palestinian" one regarding Jews, was stopped by the US. Then, there's the USSR, that killed tens of millions, and that the US forced to dissolve. But you, a student of history, criticize the US? Of course you sympathize with the "Pals." We'd expect this since you sympathize with Nazi Germany and the USSR as well. The "Palestinians" deserve contempt, just as the Nazis did. The PA is truly a totalitarian regime. Like other such regimes, there is a grassroots activism in advancing a totalitarian ideology. Poll after poll (and an election) demonstrate strong support for this ideology. This is not the same as some military junta that terrorizes its people. Oh no. The problem is indeed with the "civilian" Pal. Only a lunatic set on self-destruct protects killers at the expense of his own people. Oh and by the way, the "Palestinians" are neither a race nor a distinct ethnicity. They are just typical Arabs bred from birth to be killers--and whiners. Personally, my compassion for them is less even than my compassion for the German dead as a result of Dresden, or the Japanese dead as a result of Hiroshima.

Your right bro to bad most people in state either dont want to believe the situation around the world or they just think its ok cause we are a democracy. J Swift dont blame americans to much tho our media is so garbage that unless people actually actively look for the truth they wont find it. Most americans dont even realise that we are an empire. They think we are a responsible member of the international community. America is pretty much like most nations are people are good our leaders suck and manipulate us to get what they want. We should be the one nation that gets over it but we are so apathetic it is pathetic.

Hezbollah didnt start firing its rockets untill israel had already started bombing civilian areas. Your arguments would make some sense in your world but if you put them up against a timeline and the circumstances they fall apart.