Contemplating the heat waves that have turned the Middle East into an oven during recent weeks, Thomas Friedman, in his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The World’s Hot Spot," would have us know:
"Here’s my bet about the future of Sunni, Shiite, Arab, Turkish, Kurdish and Israeli relations: If they don’t end their long-running conflicts, Mother Nature is going to destroy them all long before they destroy one another."
Well, not exactly, Tom. As we are told in a Haaretz article entitled "Water, Water, Everywhere: Desalination Trumps Drought in Israel" by Zafrir Rinat:
"Although Israel experienced an unprecedented drought in 2014, there will be no need to build more major desalination plants this decade, according to a new Water Authority report.
The report, to be presented to the Knesset soon, states that a desalination plant in Ashdod is set to come online shortly.
When it is finished, the production capacity of all of Israel’s desalination plants will reach 600 million cubic meters of water – which is nearly 70 percent of Israel’s domestic water consumption.
According to a government decision, by 2020 the desalination plants should reach a capacity of 750 million cubic meters.
. . . .
Israel’s dependence on rainwater has declined due to the production capacity of the desalination plants, as well as increased use of purified wastewater (graywater) for agricultural irrigation."
But heck, Tom, why should the facts interfere with your opinion pieces? A pity also that the Muslim Middle East is unwilling to reap the benefits of Israeli technology.
