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August 2, 2002/Av 24 5762, Vol. 54, No. 46
Water, arable land lead to peaceIsraelis and Palestinians need to share precious resourcesKENNITH E. FOSTER
I believe that we have to look at root causes of both terrorism and desperation. I don't have any magical solution, but I know the "eye for an eye" situation we are experiencing won't work. My perspective as the president of the University of Arizona-led International Arid Lands Consortium (IALC) is: How can we get people to work together, to talk to each other, and to collaborate on projects that would better both societies? Toward that end, since the early 1990s, the IALC has created opportunities in which U.S. and Israeli scientists - and now Jordanian and Egyptian scientists - cooperate. During my many years as an arid lands specialist studying the Middle East, I have come to believe that solutions exist and that we can make a difference. There are fundamental issues affecting the quality of life that can form the basic building blocks of peace in the region. For example, a reliable and plentiful supply of clean water; sustainable, viable land for food production; education; and public health are necessary ingredients in any formula for peace. Unfortunately, these things are, in many cases, seriously lacking in the area. Compared to areas of the world with more plentiful and reliable sources of water and agriculturally productive land, economic development in the region has been slow and inconsistent. However, I believe that a common desire to solve these problems is shared by Arabs and Israelis alike. Further, we can and must tie economic development and jobs to peace and tranquility. Our work deals with general resource management, water resource development and ecological sustainability. In many of the desert areas where we work, farming is still the primary sector that creates employment. In many countries in the Middle East, 30 to 40 percent of the populations are involved in some area of livelihood directly from the land. Collaboration will do a lot for the economic development of the entire region. And, in our own ways, the UA's Arid Lands program and IALC are playing a small part. For example, water is a major factor that is going to continue to loom large in the peace process and economic development in the future. Right now, the provable, dependable water supply is maxed out. What else can be done? We, in the Southwest, have been there. We have experienced dealing with that problem. And we are studying, advising and, hopefully, providing solutions. Options include water harvesting, better utilization of reclaimed wastewater for vegetation growth, urban water conservation and construction of catchments to capture runoff. We also are working to get people from the different Middle East countries to collaborate. We have a peace fellowship program focusing on undergraduates who travel to Israel or Jordan and work with our collaborators there. We want students to see firsthand the problems and the opportunities. We also learn from each other. An example is irrigation technology, which is just as advanced in Israel and Jordan as it is in the United States. In fact, much of the drip irrigation technology that is sold in the United States is based on Israeli technology. I have found that the Jordanians and the Egyptians are very quick to pick up on this technology and use it. We have meetings in the U.S. where scientists can talk to each other. Prior to the current intifada, there was a growing exchange of scientists back and forth across the borders. We have operated projects where Israelis go to Jordan and Jordanians go to Israel. Egypt recently became a full-IALC member. Collaborative efforts would be simply impossible without the steadfast support of two very important Arizona congressmen, Ed Pastor and Jim Kolbe. Peace in the Middle East continues to be elusive. Years of effort have seen only limited progress, seemingly with one step forward followed by one, and sometimes two, steps back. The reverses are fraught with political acrimony, cultural insensitivity and religious intolerance by groups that feel threatened by the West, and a vagueness that seems to befuddle the world outside the region. At the same time, the University of Arizona will continue to play a major role in development in that part of the world. But some way and somehow, our Israeli and Palestinian friends are going to have to find a way to live with each other. It's a very small corner of the world over there. Foster is director of the University of Arizona Office of Arid Lands Studies and president of the International Arid Lands Consortium. This article was reprinted with permission of the Arizona Alumnus. The International Arid Lands Consortium (IALC) was founded in 1989 by scientists and researchers from the University of Arizona, the University of Illinois, New Mexico State University, Texas A&M-Kingsville, South Dakota State University and the Jewish National Fund as a mechanism for supporting multilateral research and demonstration projects focusing on water, land, and climatological change in the Southwest desert and the Middle East - two regions of remarkable similarity. |
