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KUFR DAN, West Bank – The Israelis
arrived at about one in the afternoon – a phalanx of 30 soldiers, 10
jeeps and a tractor at this town west of Jenin. Palestinians rapidly
appeared on the scene as well and soon the two sides were scuffling,
with farmers shouting “Get these tractors away before something happens”
and climbing aboard a tractor in an effort to stop it from working.

Confrontations between Israeli forces
and Palestinians are nothing new, but this one may portend a new kind of
friction as the scare water resources of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza
come under increasing strain from growing populations, rising living
standards and recurrent droughts.

The Israeli troops hadn’t come to
arrest suspected terrorists or to put down a violent protest. They were
in Kufr Dan, a local center for cucumber farms, to close what officials
said were illegal water wells. In Kufr Dan, they used a tractor to rip
out pipes reaching down into water sources or to push the pumps deep
into ground. In others, they cut electricity lines to the pumps.

“There is a Palestinian phrase that
says ‘pressure begets explosion.’ This could be the reason for another
intifada. Israel is ruining its security with its own hands. They talk
about peace but there is no peace,” Qaher Abed, villag... >>>