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Prophecy Watch: 11th July 2011
Prophetic Messages From The Sea Of Galilee
Joy and peace in Yahoshua our Wonderful Redeemer,
To read internet news and commentary articles below, click on the article title headings:
I received an email bulletin from Barry Chamish this week describing the Sea of Galilee as now a dead lake as a consequence of middle east peace agreements between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians. According to Chamish’s report, the sea of Galilee has been fished out and its water levels have now dropped below the non-rehabilitative levels of the “black line” which is causing its ecological death, since the “black line” is the lowest level where its fresh water capabilities are completely overwhelmed by the salinity levels as found in the Dead Sea. For more information about this, I include Barry’s full report on the Sea of Galilee below this commentary.
I am convinced that the state of The Sea Of Galilee may be giving those who are watchmen on the walls of Israel significant prophetic signs, pointing to 1) the current prophetic time as being the “last days”, 2) the judgment of the nations and 3) the promised return and redemption of the House of Israel from their 2730 year global exile amongst the nations (a.k.a. the “gentiles”). To understand the prophetic messages that the current state of the Sea of Galilee may hold for Abba’s waiting faithful remnant of the last days, let us briefly consider some important points that the scriptures teach us concerning the historical region of Galilee and the Sea of Galilee.
The Historical Biblical Record of the Significance of Galilee.
From the Gospel record, (KJV bible), the region of Galilee is called “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Matthew 4:15). The greek word for “gentiles” here is Strongs 1484 “Ethnos” which is more properly translated “Nations”. Thus the name of the Galilee in the New Testament record should properly read “Galilee of the Nations”. In original Hebrew scriptures this would read “Galil Ha Goyim” (see Isaiah 9:1). The Hebrew word “Galil” is Strongs 1551 and means circle (with the article), ring, wheel, circuit, revolution, region, district, cylinder, rod.
Originally, the area known as Galilee was part of the land that was conquered under the leadership of Joshua, which was given to the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. Nazareth was in the Lower Galilee (Josh. 20:7). The Galilee was thus part of the territory belonging to the Northern Kingdom of Israel (the 10 tribes). In 721 BCE, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was invaded by the Assyrians, under judgment from YHVH, and virtually all the inhabitants of the Northern House of Israel (the 10 tribes) were taken into exile, and the region was then repopulated with non-Israelites who were populations being settled from other nations conquered by the Assyrians. Hence the name “Galilee of the Nations” became the Hebraic description and name for the region, after the exile of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
After the Macabean revolt, in the second century BCE, Judah attempted to forcibly circumcise and convert the populace of the Galilee, but with little success as it remained a religiously and ethnically mixed province.
Very significantly, it was here in the Galilee that Yahoshua Messiah, in full accord with biblical covenant and prophecy, began His public ministry. In the time of Yahoshua Messiah, “Galilee of the Nations” was the northernmost of the three provinces of Israel (Galilee, Samaria, Judea). The district included a city of refuge named Galilee; as well the Sea (Lake) of Galilee.
One can only understand the full significance of Matthew’s accounts of Yahoshua’s ministry in the Galilee from the Torah and the Prophets.
Matthew 4:. 12 Now when Yahoshua had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.
17 From that time Yahoshua began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew wrote for a Jewish audience, and defends Yahoshua’s movements from the Tenach (Old Testament Scriptures) in the light of the prophet Isaiah. He demonstrates that Yahoshua’s ministry in the Galilee itself was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. This is the purpose of Matthew’s quotation from Isaiah 9:1-7 in Matthew 4:15-16. These verses in Isaiah reveal that the Messiah was to be the “great light” to a people who walked in darkness in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali - the regions called the “Galilee of the Nations”.
The Deeper Prophetic Significance Of Yahoshua’s ministry in the Galilee is the redemption and restoration of the “lost House of Israel”.
The context of Isaiah 9: 1-7, is that it is first of all a prophecy of Israel’s deliverance from the Assyrian oppression and the great exile, which the prophet Ezekiel declared would last 390 years (multiplied by 7 due to no repentance by Israel – to a total of 2730 years). YHVH promised He would ultimately break the yoke of the oppressor through a bloody battle. The birth of the Messiah Child is prophesied (Isaiah 9: 6-7) in connection with this battle; this Child would become a mighty warrior who would lost (exiled) Northern House of Israel and also the House of Judah, thereby restoring the 12 tribes of Jacob from their oppressors in the last days. This is the full mandate of Yahoshua Messiah, as declared in Isaiah 49
Isaiah 49: 5 And now, saith YHVH that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of YHVH, and my God shall be my strength.
6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
7 ¶ Thus saith YHVH, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of YHVH that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.
8 Thus saith YHVH, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
It is in this biblical context that Yahoshua Messiah declared the true Gospel of the Kingdom that Christendom cannot comprhend because of its replacement theologies - that he had come specifically to redeem the “Lost sheep of the House of Israel” that were so exiled by YHVH into the Nations according to the words of the prophet Hosea.
Matthew 15: 22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Master, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
This is the context of Yahoshua beginning His public ministry in the “Galilee of the Nations”. By so doing Yahoshua declares He was about to begin the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the full deliverance of Israel from the great Assyrian exile, where the House of Israel would be fully scattered to the four corners of the earth among the nations and become the “melo ha Goyim” fully assimilated among the nations – which eventuates even to its uttermost farthest comers of the globe such as the "Land of the Long White Cloud” - New Zealand.
Matthew informs us that Yahoshua’s withdrawal to the Galilee took place immediately after His temptation (4:1-11). Yahoshua, the Last Adam, was victorious in His conflict with Satan. The temptation in the wilderness was the beginning of Yahoshua’s ministry to conquer the great enemy of His people, to deliver them from the slavery that YHVH had justly imposed upon them because of their sins. His withdrawal to the “Galilee of the Nations” follows on His triumph over the oppressor. Having dealt an initial defeat to Satan, Yahoshua went into “Galilee of The Nations” to find the lost sheep and to prepare and send out His servants to announce His victory, and the coming fullness of the kingdom to the four corners of the earth. Yahoshua’s conquest of Satan in the wilderness, was the great battle of which his conquest of Assyria (and the Assyrian in the last days; Micah 5:6) is but the shadow.
Thus when Yahoshua begins His ministry in the Galilee of the Nations, He is giving the prophetic message that He is YHVH’s faithful servant, who first and foremost will be going into the nations to redeem the lost tribes of Israel, as YHVH has promised to remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the last days.
The Biblical Significance of The Sea of Galilee
In the Gospel of Matthew we find that Yahoshua not only began his ministry in the Galilee of the Nations, but he chose his disciples from among fishermen on the Sea of Galilee (the shadow type of His servants being at work among the nations), and declared that they would become “fishers of men” among the nations.
Matthew 4: 18 And Yahoshua, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
23 And Yahoshua went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Clearly the biblical description of these men who would be “fished” by his servants are but the lost people of the exiled Northern House of Israel (Ephraim) who through the exile would be scattered into all the nations of the earth and become the “Melo Ha’ Goyim”. One of the most interesting prophecies relating to the Ten Tribes was given by Jacob when he pronounced a blessing over Ephraim, ancestor of the largest and most important of the Ten Tribes. Jacob said, “his [Ephraim’s] descendants will be the fullness of the nations” (Gen. 48:19). This is the only place in the Old Testament that this unusual phrase “the fullness of the nations” (in Hebrew, melo ha’goyim) appears. Unfortunately, it is often translated “a multitude of nations,” which hides the true meaning: that Ephraim will be identified as being mixed in or assimilated in among all the Gentile nations of the earth.
The Apostles confirmed this understanding in their teachings.
The apostle Paul taught that the “fullness of the nations” (melo ha’goyim) is filled with prophetic meaning. In Rom. 11:25, in speaking of the present “partial hardening” of Israel to the gospel, he stated that this takes place “...while the fullness of the nations comes in” (Rom. 11:25). This is in the famous section about the Hebrew olive tree of faith into which non-Jewish believers are grafted. In other words, the “fullness of the nations” coming in refers to non-Jewish believers coming to faith in Yahoshua as YHVH’s Servant Messiah and being grafted in to the commonwealth (nation) of Israel (as in Eph. 2:12,19). By quoting Genesis, Paul identified this redemption of the non-Jews with the prophesied return of the “fullness of the nations” as being descended from Ephraim (the Ten Lost Tribes). In other words, the salvation of the non-Jews is the prophesied return of the Ten Tribes.
Furthermore, both Paul and Peter quote Hosea’s prophecy in which the northern kingdom of Israel (the Ten Tribes) was renounced by God and cut off from being his people. But a future restoration is also promised: “In the place that it is said to them, 'You are not my people,' it will be said to them, 'You are sons of the living God'” (Hosea. 1:10, also 2:23; Rom. 9:24,25; 1 Peter 2:10). Both Apostles apply this prophecy, originally given to the Ten Tribes, to non-Jewish believers in Yahoshua Messiah. These passages show that the Apostles understood that Non-Jewish believers, by accepting Israel’s Messiah and joining themselves to Israel’s God, fulfill the prophecies that Messiah will gather the dispersed remnant of Israel (the Ten Tribes).
The prophecy of the coming together of Ephraim (the Ten Tribes) and Judah (the Jews) as “one stick” (in Ezek. 37:15-23) is therefore a prophecy of the end-time reconciliation of non-Jewish believers (the Ten Tribes) and the Jewish people together in the Messiah (Eze. 37:22-26; Micah 5:3). This reconciliation, initiated in the time of the Apostles, was sidetracked in the third century by Constantinian Christianity’s replacement theologies of a purely Gentile and often anti-Semitic religion.
We also understand from the scriptures that other fish (strangers from the nations) would be also caught alongside in their nets and that these would be “grafted in” to the redeem House of Israel, just as the “strangers” from the nations who came out with Israel in the Egyptian exodus were to be considered as “Natural born” (Lev 19:34) if they became faithful and obedient to YHVH’s covenants.
What then might the prophetic messages be that surround a reality that the Sea of Galilee is dying in these days?
Today YHVH is revealing many significant signs of the fulfillment of prophecy to His people. Barry Chamish’s message concerning the state of the Sea of Galilee in the “Galilee of the Nations” is now fished out, and that this state of affairs has never been known before in history. Not only is the fishing exhausted, but the lake is dying.
From studies I have placed on the “In That Day” website you will know that my understanding of the end of Ezekiel’s exile (2730 years) came about in 2009 / 2010. That means that the law of YHVH now permits the time for return of the House of Israel to soon begin. Given the biblical context of YHVH’s covenant of redemption and return summarised above, may I suggest that the state of the Sea of Galilee presents us with the following testimony:
- The sea of Galilee in the “Galilee of the Nations” represents the nations of the world where Ephraim – the lost house of Israel was scattered and would be found
- The fish caught in great numbers by the disciples under the commandment and direction of Yahoshua represent the remnant of Ephraim scattered in the nations who would respond to the faithful call of Yahoshua Messiah over the past two millennia.
- That there are no more fish in the Sea of Galilee – a state of affairs that has never occurred before in history, appears to give a concluding sign that the full number of non-Jewish believers (the “Melo Ha’Goyim" – who are the remnant of Ephraim amongst the nations (Gen 49:18) ) has now come in. Can anymore be caught apart from the odd small numbers of stragglers?
If we look across the nations today, contrary to the dominionist Christian theology that proclaims Jesus will only return when all the nations have become Christians, it is evident that the nations are in fact rejecting what biblical faith they had; that the Christian Church itself across all its denominations and world councils is now also turning its back on what biblical truth it held. Neither is there any concern to seriously study and teach the covenants and prophecies of the “old testament” scriptures. At the same time Constantinian Christianity is increasingly standing for unity dialogues with the religions of the world and rejecting Judah’s biblical claim to his inheritance of Jerusalem and the land of Judea. Furthermore, rather than honestly study YHVH’s written Word, they denounce the theological principles of the concept of the “greater Israel” as a Kingdom precept and pronounce the biblical teachingof the return of the Two Houses of Israel at the end of the 6th millenium as a heresy, when it is the true and full Gospel of the Kingdom as proclaimed by Moses, Yahoshua and all the biblical prophets.
Despite the worldviews of instituttional Christianty, Abba YHVH has indeed poured out His Spirit in these last days. He has called (and is yet calling) many to a repentant return to the Hebraic roots of their faith in the last days, outside of Institutional Christendom. What began as a trickle over two decades ago has now become a restoration flood, as Abba, praise His wonderful Name, gives more and more understanding of such profound Kingdom truth to His true remnant in these last days - those who have a humble and sincere love for His truth.
- That the very timing of this message of the death of the Sea of Galilee – is highly prophetically significant. In April of 2010, Israel imposed a two year ban on all fishing in the Galilee (see article below by Chamish).
- Perhaps the impoverished and polluted ecology also warns of the prophecies of YHVH’s impending judgment and needed cleansing of the promised land which will begin with Jerusalem, Judea, and the surrounding regions out to all the nations as declared by Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 25 YHVH’s judgement by the “sword” – Hebrew word “Chareb” actually means “drought”).
- That the Sea is dying as a consequence of the State of Israel’s peace agreements with Jordan and the Palestinians is possibly the sign of the impending consequence of the “covenant of death” that the men of Jerusalem make with the Nations in the last days (Isaiah 28: 14-15).
- That the Sea of Galilee is dying through salinity of the water (bitter water) may also be a picture of coming collapse of the nations, because the nations have parted YHVH’s land and dealt treacherously with YHVH’s covenants (Joel 3). When YHVH arises to redeem (exodus) His remnant from among the nations, His blessings to the nations will be removed in the very same way as we saw the civilization of Egypt collapse after the first Exodus, never to rise in history again as a great civilization of any repute.
- That the time for outreach (fishing for men) through YHVH’s grace may soon be coming to its end, (the age of Shavuot) and the time of restoration and return will soon begin, as the full number in the nations have been brought into His nets!
May Abba bless us with His Grace, joy and shalom.
Take care
Rob
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A VICTIM OF PEACE - THE SEA OF GALILEE IS DEAD - by Barry Chamish
www.barrychamish.com
There are no more fish in the Sea of Galilee. After time immemorial, the historic lake is now ecologically dead, forever. RIP Peace.
http://www.greenprophet.com/2011/01/fishless-sea-of-galilee/
The Sea of Galilee is known for its tempestuous storms and thriving fishing industry. But life there is changing with less rain and almost no fish left.
The lowest in the world and Israel’s only freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee is fed by the Jordan River and supplies much of the region’s water. Famously the site for many of Jesus’ sermons, it also has a long fishing history. In the first century, the historian Flavius Josephus wrote that 230 fishing boats thrived on the lake. Twenty centuries later, the lake is at risk of being emptied of all its fish. This news just in from the Jerusalem Post.
The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry has issued temporary fishing licenses to fishermen in order to buy time. In between now and February 28, 2011, when the licenses will expire, the Knesset economic committee must decide what to do about the unprecedented low fish stock levels. In just one decade, fish stocks dropped by almost 2,000 tonnes from 2,144 in 1999 to just 156.8 in 2009. Apart from impacting on the livelihood of local fishermen, which is serious enough, what are the ecological effects of an over-fished lake? Last year a fishing ban was put in place in order to increase fish stock. It remains to be seen whether similar action will be taken this year. Compounding the lake’s ecological health are low water levels, presently at their lowest ever. Although last year between March and June the lake levels were above the “red line” – below which levels are thought to be particularly bad – lack of rain has kept levels devastatingly low. This despite efforts to cut back on the amount of water pumped out of the lake, last year, Lake Kinneret only received, on average, 60% of its annual rainfall.
Just before I was forced to leave Israel, some seven years ago, I took my son on what I thought would be an unforgettable childhood memory. An admirer of my writing owned a rare treasure in Israel, a fishing powerboat, and he invited my son and me on a trip of nearly a lifetime. With worms we dug from cow manure the day before in hand, at 3:00 AM, we launched the craft in the west of Lake Kinneret, for a water trip to fishing paradise. It was a dark, spooky ride along the coast, passing such ghost sites invisible from land, as a 19th century sunken riverboat, until we reached the vast reeds of the Jordan River outlet. There, in the encompassing, scary darkness, I hooked the worms and released our lines.
But, there were no bites. Just occasional snags.
No fishing explanation.
As the sun rose, we were in the northern Jordan River delta, a place I knew well from the past.
During the 1980's, I wrote offbeat stories for an influential monthly called, The Israel Digest. One story, which received massive international reprints, was about my day with licensed Galilee fishermen. Actually it was OUR day; accompanying me was my girlfriend of the era, Shirley Schwartz, who shot lovely photos of the adventure. They sold half the reprints of fishermen hauling in their boats, hundreds of pounds of large, squirming Galilee fish, many, just hours later, frying above the charcoals of really tasty Tiberius sidewalk cafes. This was then, Sea of Galilee reality.
Today, they must import their fish.
My fishing day ended with one crummy fish. I did everything right; right bait, right place, right time. I failed before my son. What did I do wrong? The fish were dead, is what I did wrong. They were not to be caught, is what I did wrong.
http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/04/israel-fishing-ban-sea-galilee/
Generations have carried on this tradition, and today the most popular fish in the lake is dubbed St. Peter’s Fish, or Tilapia. But after being almost overfished to death, in the coming six weeks the Israeli government will gradually enforce a total ban on fishing in the biblical lake an effort to bring it back to life. The new, two-year ban will force some 200 licensed fishermen out of the Sea of Galilee in search of a new trade.“We will support the fishermen and make sure the lake is restocked with fish,” Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said when announcing the ban after his weekly cabinet meeting. The Sea of Galilee has witnessed a dramatic decline in fish, largely due to illegal practices such as catching breeding fish and preventing fish populations from growing. Millions of hungry migratory birds also feed heavily on the fish...“In most Mediterranean countries, fishing is banned during the summer time and this allows the fish to breed and to grow,” says Prof. Goren. “Here in Israel we don’t have any regulation of this kind right now. So the fishermen fish all year round and they don’t give the fish any chance. They remove the mothers while they are small before they get to maturity and that is it.”
Again, the fishermen get the blame for the disappearance of close to all fish life in Lake Kinneret. There were likely far more fishermen in biblical times than anytime in the past ten years when fish stocks dropped from typical to nearly non-existent. THEY ARE NOT THE CAUSE OF THE SEA OF GALILEE'S DEATH! A combination of global warning and "peace" is. As for the drought coinciding with "peace," darn the timing or it was divine intervention. Choose whatever you feel comfortable with.
The core fact is, the Sea Of Galilee was doomed anyway by peace.
I knew that way back in '94 when I interviewed the water negotiator for the Israel-Jordan peace accord:
The truth is that the Kinneret is drying up from the activities of the "peacemakers." I should know. In 1994, I interviewed the chief Israeli negotiator of the Water Treaty between Jordan and Israel. Back then I was the Israeli correspondent for a London company called the Gemini News Service. Thanks to them, my work was published widely throughout Third World newspapers. I noticed a newspaper quote about the water negotiations from Yaacov Tsemach of the national water company, Tahal. It caught my eye because a Yaacov Tsemach was my really good, longtime army buddy. I admired his sharp wit and, a rarity among Israelis, great sense of humor. So I called Tahal and to my total delight, it was my buddy on the line.
We arranged to meet and got along like old times. He was assistant to the chief negotiator of the water sections of the then-building, Israeli-Jordanian Peace Treaty. I asked if I could interview the negotiator and he said he'd put in a good word for me. Well, a good word from Yaacov did the trick. If I agreed to keep the negotiator's name anonymous, he would meet with me within the week.
We met at a Tel Aviv restaurant and he began, like all good bureaucrats, handing me graphs and surveys. In retrospect, I've wondered why I brought out so many sources, but the truth must be, the rest of the media were selling "peace" and I was looking where they chose not to enter. The bar graphs showed a lot of blue above the "red" line of the lake over 30 odd years before the Treaty, then it sunk after the proposed "peace" agreement. I, naturally, asked what happened.
The negotiator ordered a drink, then shortly after, another. And he became teary.
"I sure hope our leaders know what they're doing," he said. "Because if they're wrong, the Kinneret will disappear in a generation. Within twenty years, it will be nearly useless for our water needs."
I asked what he meant. He then gave me the title of my Gemini article, "Giving Away Dream Water."
"The government is going to give away 50 million cubic meters of lake water a year and they ordered me to find it. I'm giving away dream water."
The negotiator told me where he went looking for the water. "There are brackish streams on the west of the lake. We'll give that away. We'll dam the Yarmuk and give that water away."
By a natural near-miracle, the Golan Heights' snow melt in March, fill the Jordan River, Hula Lake and the Sea of Galilee with sufficient clean water to last until next Spring. But in the 1950's, Israel, all but completely, drained her second largest lake, the Hula, mostly to plant a few more avocado groves. The country got a few more avocados and endlessly more methane fires, rat infestations, and ecological devastation from the dead lakebed.
Water, that used to be filtered of bacterial disease and infections by Lake Hula, poured straight into the Kinneret, some 300 ft, below sea level, and via the southern exit of the Jordan River, polluted the Dead Sea, some 100 ft. below sea level. The result for the Dead Sea, at least partly, was an environmental breakdown.
Before we get the cold, hard facts, another disturbing story; the lost tragedy of Israel's third biggest lake, Agam Baruch.
Situated just below Mount Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley, there once was a significant lake formed by damming the source of the Kishon River. I discovered it during an army training exercise in 1980. Soonafter, I turned it into a beloved fishing and camping spot for over two decades. Oh, the stories I won't tell...but the fishing was just as good.
In 2004, I returned with my son for a weekend of fishing and camping and what did we find? The lake, from one end to the other, was covered in belly-up white. All the fish had been poisoned. The big, the small, the tilapia, the eels, the catfish, the carp, were all dead.
We returned in 2005, me anyway, hoping the lake had recovered, and found the lake was drained, now a puddle, not even a lagoon. Yet fishermen surrounded the puddle, throwing in their hooks, with not a fish anymore alive.
I never discovered if the lake was killed by terrorism or by accident, but Israel's third largest freshwater body, like its second, the Hula, is gone forever. Now look at how nearby pollution is killing the Sea of Galilee.
http://www.greenprophet.com/2009/03/israel-jordan-polluted-rive/
As if the regional water scarcity wasn’t bad enough already, Israel will soon begin compensating Jordan with freshwater after oil waste and sewage contaminated the shared Yarmouk River water supply. After detecting pollution from the Israeli side of the river last week, the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation suspended pumping from the King Abdullah Canal, which supplies Amman with one-third of its total water demand. The ministry also filed an official complaint against the Israeli government, claming a violation of Jordan’s 1994 peace treaty with Israel. According to the agreement, Jordan receives 60,000 cubic meters of water daily from Israel’s Lake Kinneret during the month of March. Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) Secretary General Musa Jamaani said Israel will pump up to 180,000 cubic meters from the Kinneret to Jordan, and will pump another 50-60,000 cubic meters this summer.
Mr. Jamaani also indicated that, although the relevant authorities will take steps to prevent similar incidents in the future, there are no safety guarantees. He said, “If it reoccurs, we will close down the waterways and get our compensation. If Israel is fine with supplying us extra water in return for what it pollutes, it’s up to them… the pressure is on them rather than on us.”
So here is how the Sea of Galilee ecologically works. It is surrounded by salt streams. It does not become the Dead Sea because, unlike it, it has an exit, the south end of the Jordan River, flowing well over a thousand feet down in a hundred miles to the lowest spot on earth, the Dead Sea. But if the Sea of Galilee loses too much freshwater, the salt streams win, turning the lake too briny and saline to support life. This level is called the Black Line, and once breached, the lake is killed FOREVER.
Israel is compensating Jordan for the water it polluted at a rate that falls far below the Sea of Galilee's Black Line. The issue, not discussed here, is WHY Israel gave away its water to Jordan, not to mention the Palestinians (23,000 thousand c/meters/yr), for "peace" treaties. Is Israel sovereign or not? Now look what Jordan did with the polluted Yarmuk River water? Did it ship it to water treatment facilities? Of course not;
He also assured the public that none of the contaminated water was pumped to consumers. Instead, the polluted waters were discarded into valleys that pour into the Jordan River, which flows to the Dead Sea. To me this is still a cause of concern, however, because the Jordan River is already extremely polluted, and the Dead Sea is a fragile, shrinking ecosystem.
Add to this:
Another cause for concern is that Israel will be pumping even more water out of the Kinneret. As further evidence of the severity of Israel’s water crisis, the water level of the Kinneret is at an all-time low. This past summer, the level reached the black line, where pumping the water can cause permanent danger to the entire lake. So is it really a feasible solution for Israel to promise Jordan more water from the Kinneret, especially during the hot summer months? And if Israel can’t provide the water it promised, how will this impact Jordan, whose own water crisis is even more severe?
And me concluding:
It is 2002. I had given a lecture on the real Rabin assassination at a Golan Heights village. On the way home, I stopped at an eastern Kinneret kibbutz and threw in my line below the pier which once held its fishing boats. It soared 15 feet above me and the ancient and recent lake level. From what I had learned in my profession, I thought, this lake is doomed. Knowing not how climate change and resulting drought will hurry the process along, I knew that draining the Sea of Galilee for peace had already murdered it.
And now it's gone, ecologically, for good.
End.
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