Lebanon

River Runs Through Mideast Dispute
A 22-inch pipe plunges into a spring along the Wazzani River in southern Lebanon, meant soon to siphon water for delivery to nearby hamlets and help make the parched landscape bloom. But the Wazzani River flows from Lebanon south into Israel, and the pipe's recent appearance, along with unrelated earthworks, has prompted a round of regional tension. Water is one of the most sensitive issues in the Middle East. All of the Holy Land is short of water, and the region has suffered droughts in several recent years.

Decision to divert water from Wazzani is 'final'
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said Saturday that Lebanon's decision to continue to divert waters from a river which flows into Israel to southern Lebanese villages is "final." "Lebanon's decision to benefit from the Wazzani river to irrigate lands and give drinking water to thirsty Lebanese villages in the south is a final one and there will be no return on this decision," Lahoud said. Sources said the United States had proposed sending a mediator to help resolve tensions over the Lebanese plan to pipe 5,000 cubic meters of drinking water to southern villages

Lebanon rejects U.S. request to halt Wazzani water project
Lebanese officials have rejected American requests to cease work on a project designed to divert water from the Wazzani River. Lebanese leaders declared over the weekend that the decision to pump the Wazzani water is final, and incontrovertible. Hariri declared in an interview with the Beirut daily A-Nahar that "we told the Americans and the UN about our rights to the water." He added that "we did the right thing when we told the Americans `don't listen to what the Israelis are saying' about the Wazzani situation."