Lebanon accuses Israel of stealing Wazzani river water
  BEIRUT, Lebanon - Mohammad Ghamlush, the engineer heading the Wazzani river pumping systems, told AFP the Israeli army sabotaged the water pumps on the river last week and installed a pipe to pump hundreds of cubic meters to Israel.
  During the last weekly cabinet meeting on Thursday, the government denounced what it called an Israeli violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended 34 days of Israeli-Hezbollah hostilities.
  Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora discussed the issue over the phone with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on September 22, according to the national news agency.
  In a region where water is scarce, the issue may have dramatic consequences. and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) has opened an investigation.

Unifil patrols went to the Wazzani river.
   “We did not yet get information on the water pumps from the patrols dispatched to Wazzani, upon a request from the Lebanese government,” UNIFIL spokesman Alexander Ivanko said.
   However, he confirmed that Israeli workers and civilians have been repairing water pipes in the nearby village of Ghajar.
   Ivanko said the Israelis had violated the UN-drawn border line between the two countries to fix the water pipes.
   “We have informed the United Nations headquarters in New York about this,” he said.
Asked by AFP in Jerusalem, an army spokesman said the military was investigating the issue.
   Ghamlush said that on September 22 an Israeli patrol broke into the pumping station installed by the Lebanese ministry of electricity and hydraulic resources in Wazzani.
   The soldiers sabotaged the pumping machines and ordered him to leave the premises, he said.
   Ghamlush said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) helped Lebanese government workers to install two new power generators to restart the pumping systems.
   He said the Israeli army has installed two water pumps to transport water from the Wazzani river through two pipes, which run toward villages in Israel.
   Ghamlush said the Israels were pumping every day between 200 and 300 cubic metres of water from the Wazzani to Ghajar and to Israeli villages.
   Wazzani Mayor Ahmed al-Mohammed has accused the Israelis of giving weak excuses in order to justify the “theft” of water from the river. He said they were claiming that the operation was “legal,” as the Israeli pumps were on the Israeli side of the border.
  Meanwhile, Israeli forces, which delayed their pullout from southern Lebanon, have set up checkpoints inside a village in the area, the Lebanese army said in a statement yesterday.
   “An enemy force, made up of a tank and three jeeps, carried out an incursion for about an hour in the village of Marwaheen,” it said.
   The Israeli troops set up a checkpoint “on the main road and checked the identities of drivers,” it said.
   On Tuesday, an Israeli force comprising five tanks and two jeeps also entered Marwaheen to erect a checkpoint which they maintained for more than three hours, questioning journalists and residents.
   “The two jeeps went back to occupied Palestine, while the five tanks took up position on a hill east of Marwaheen,” said the Lebanese army statement. The head of Lebanese editors’ union, Melhem Karam, denounced the “Israeli agressive acts” that targeted “Lebanese and Arab journalists and photographers in Marwaheen.”
   The Israeli army continues to occupy 10 positions in southern Lebanon since the July-August fierce battles with Hezbollah.
   Disputes over how the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers will deal with Hezbollah fighters is holding up the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, Israel’s military chief of staff Dan Halutz said Wednesday. (AFP)