Israel stealing Lebanon's water

Why am I not surprised?

Water is the true gold of the Middle East. Oil? They're overflowing with the stuff. Water, on the other hand, is scarce in this parched land. Water is why Israel will never give up the West Bank -- the West Bank lies atop the aquifer that supplies Tel Aviv, where half of Israel's population and economy are located, and they can never allow anybody else to control their water that way. Similarly, they can never give the Golan back to Syria for the same reason -- control of the water. If they gave the Golan back to Syria, Syria could pump all the water out the same way that Israel is currently pumping all the water out (the Jordan River is *dry* by the time it reaches the Dead Sea, which is getting even deader now that no water goes into it).

Israel currently uses more water per household than ten households in the surrounding countries use. They are the Americans of the Middle East, gluttons who are addicted to an unsustainable lifestyle that can be maintained only via theft and force of arms. If the U.S. went into Iraq for the oil (even just to keep said oil off the market to insure higher prices for U.S. oil companies), it is clear that Israel went into Lebanon for more reasons than just a couple of captured Israeli soldiers (soldiers captured, I might add, in the midst of constant Israeli incursions into Lebanon that had resulted in the deaths of multiple Lebanese citizens guilty of nothing except being in the wrong place at the wrong time -- over a dozen Israeli violations of Lebanese territory had been protested to the United Nations over the six months prior to the capture of the Israeli soldiers). The fact that they failed to attain the Litani River, their clear and obvious goal (in order to divert its waters to Israel) must rankle them greatly, but they're stealing whatever water they can from places they did attain.

And people wonder why I criticize Israel's actions? The Israelis have a sense of entitlement that is surpassed only by that of Americans. They believe that only they have rights, and that nobody else does -- just like Americans. They believe that only their opinion matters, and that nobody else's opinion matters -- just like Americans. In the end, they are bad neighbors, and for the most part bad people. I'm sorry, but if you are selfish, small-minded, oblivious, and willfully ignorant of the world outside your own immediate surroundings, you are a bad person, period -- no matter how often you go to church or how kind you are to children in your own neighborhood.

-- Badtux the Opinionated Penguin