Thomas Friedman, "The Other Arab Spring": The Solution Can Be Found in Israel

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Other Arab Spring" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/opinion/sunday/friedman-the-other-arab-spring.html?smid=tw-NYTimesFriedman&seid=auto), Thomas Friedman finally gets around to linking the rebellion in Syria to the multi-year drought in that country that has destroyed its agriculture. Already in May 2011 I wrote (http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2011/05/thomas-friedmans-they-shoot-horses-dont.html):

"Notwithstanding demands by demonstrators for greater political freedom, the Assad regime is being brought down by the failure of its economy. Syria's agricultural sector employs some 30 percent of its labor force, and much emphasis has been placed in recent years on achieving food self-sufficiency and stemming rural migration. However, Syria's most important cash crop is cotton, which demands much water, and a five-year drought has had catastrophic consequences."

A perplexed Friedman concludes:

"Folks, this is not a hoax. We and the Arabs need to figure out — and fast — more ways to partner to mitigate the environmental threats where we can and to build greater resiliency against those where we can’t. Twenty years from now, this could be all that we’re talking about."

Well, unbeknownst to Friedman, Israel, which borders Syria, has also been experiencing a multi-year drought, but has been building massive desalination plants in order to compensate for the shortfall in rain. It doesn't take much insight regarding what needs to be done by Syria and other Arab states, but are they capable of swallowing their pride and buying this technology from Israel?