How Israel Make the Desert Bloom

Fertile is as fertile does is the latest Israeli version of “making the desert
bloom.” In late April this writer had the opportunity to travel to south
Lebanon, right up to and along the Israel-Lebanon border, south of the city of
Marjeyoun. Meaning “the meadow of springs” in Arabic, Marjeyoun is one of
Lebanon’s most fertile stretches of land. Spring flowers were blooming where
the land still lay fallow. But much land had been turned as well, readied for
vegetables and grains. Farmers can grow just about anything in this area.

Along the border with its former occupier—about half a mile from the actual
demarcation line—runs a simple country road. Driving along, one can see an
Israeli village, which, from a distance, looks as neat and pretty as a picture.
The roofs are red and the buildings look as if they are made out of
stone—much like the traditional and fast-disappearing homes in the mountains
of Lebanon.

Up close, however, the picture is entirely different. The buildings are cheap
prefab affairs made of artificial materials—a tenement village, one might say.

Like a feudal lord’s castle—or a West Bank settlement—the village is built on
a hill. The rocky hill and the land on which the village is built stands in sharp
contrast to the fertile Lebanese soil it borders.

Apparently the disparity began to get to the Israelis. About a year ago—in full
view of the U.N. troops stationed in the area—they crossed the border with
bulldozers. Although there was no sign that read “FREE TOPSOIL,” the
Israelis proceeded to scrape off tons of rich, fertile Lebanese dirt and haul it
away. The U.N. troops reported the activity, and there was a protest. Israel,
however, does not have a history of heeding U.N. resolutions.

Where the topsoil once was is now gutted land. The springs still flow, but they
form only muddy pools. The area visited by the Israelis now looks like a
construction site where the builder gave up and went away after a heavy
rainfall, and southern Lebanon’s topsoil now provides fledgling Israeli fruit
trees with life-giving nourishment. Once again, the Israelis have “made the
desert bloom.”