Why There Is No Peace Under The Olive Trees

I still remember the September '05 news lines announcing that Israel completely withdrew from Gaza. Palestinians were celebrating by ravaging synagogues and greenhouses and splashing in the crystal-blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Every news article I read spoke of those crystal-blue waters. If you look at the map, you will not find rivers or lakes in Gaza. But there are rivers and lakes – rivers and lakes of raw sewage that are making people sick. Raw sewage is flowing freely into the sea that is not crystal blue anymore.

Ilan Juran, an American-Israeli specialist in urban infrastructure, proposed a joint project to build a new recycling and water management system for Gaza City and its surrounding villages modeled on the water treatment facility in Ashkelon.

Mayor of Ashkelon Benny Vaknin went to Brazil to present the idea to the XVII International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, a conference on Middle East peacemaking co-hosted by the United Nations' Department of Public Information and the Brazilian government at the end of July.

It was hoped that officials from both sides would sign the agreement in Rio de Janeiro, but despite permits to travel being arranged by the Israeli side, two days before the conference, Mayor of Gaza City Maged Abu Ramadan and his officials were refused permission to travel by Hamas.

Palestinians from the West Bank and East Jerusalem did attend the event, however, and they signed their names on the water works plan, without the consent of Hamas officials.

Israel will raise more than $50 million needed for the project. Israel will provide the blueprints and specialists. All that is required of Hamas government in Gaza is to accept, no strings attached. But they will not.

And this is, in a nutshell, why there is no peace under the olive trees, 61 years and counting.

Original report: Israel21c