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Ruth Gwily
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Published: October 9, 2013
MORRO BAY, Calif. — PEACE talks are under way again in Jerusalem. If the
past is any guide, the two sides are stymied over difficult issues like
settlements and borders. The negotiators badly need a new approach, and
one is right beneath their feet, in the Kidron Valley, the deep ravine
that runs from the Old City through the West Bank toward the Dead Sea.
As it snakes its way through the Judean wilderness, the Kidron comes to
Mar Saba, a spectacular monastery slung upon a cliff. Orthodox Christian
prayers have been chanted there every day for some 1,400 years. The
monastery and its domes and chapels are protected on one side by stone
walls and on the other by the deep gorge of the Kidron, or Wadi Nar, as
the Arabs call it. If you descend the innumerable steps to the
fast-flowing Kidron Stream, a vile smell rises to meet you. The flow is
raw sewage from Jerusalem, coursing at a rate of 8 to 10 million gallons
a day.
Jerusalem treats two-thirds of its wastewater at a plant in the western
part of the city. The remainder, which emanates mainly from Palestinian
neighborhoods in East Jerusalem but also from Jewish housing, has been
held hostage to the political impasse since 1967. Underground and out of
sight near the Old City, the sewage breaks into the open at the
separation barrier, where the West Bank begins; picks up additional
loads from Bethlehem and the impoverished town of Ubeidiya; passes
beneath the monastery; and eventually, though some is diverted by
settlers for irrigation, it reaches the Dead Sea.
In the malodorous water lies a political opportunity. The Kidron Valley
traverses an area holy to three world religions. Cleaning up the basin
ought to be a lead item in the current talks, a cause instead of a
consequence of peace. After all, the pollution is owned by both sides
and breaches any possible future boundary between them. Compared with
issues like the Palestinians’ right of return, the Jewish settlements
and the final status of Jerusalem — not to mention the borders
themselves — solving the Kidron’s problem is straightforward.
More important, if the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government
can work together on an uncontroversial civil project, one that improves
the quality of life for all residents, they will start to develop a
mutual trust...READ MORE
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