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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins, and this is The World. The lone surviving gunman in last year’s attacks on Mumbai, India, has told his story. Ajmal Kassab confessed yesterday to his part in the violence. Today, Kassab told a judge in Mumbai just how his life’s path led to his spraying automatic gunfire at commuters. Here’s his story. Kassab said that he’d been unhappy with his low wages as a shop assistant in Pakistan, so he sought out the mujahedeen, Muslim jihadist, for training to become a professional bandit. They directed him to the militant group behind the attacks. Christine Fair is a senior political scientist with the Rand Corporation and a professor at Georgetown University. She’s now in New Delhi, India. Kassab’s story, as he told it in recent days, I wonder if you find it credible, and what in it you find surprising.

CHRISTINE FAIR: I think what has been most interesting here in Delhi, and probably the source of considerable incredulity, was that one of his instructors was actually allegedly [INDISCERNIBLE], an Indian. He claimed that this individual actually taught him Hindi. Hindi and Ordu have very similar grammar, but there are really significant vocabulary differences, and if you’re not careful, those vocabulary items could quickly give you away as a Pakistani. So I think, in terms of what he’s confessed to, that might be the most shocking. He, you know, he certainly disavowed some of the killings that, I think, some people thought that he was responsible for. So there’s been some doubts about some of the killings that he’s advocated responsibility for. But I think the basic penance of what he laid out in his confessions hasn’t really surprised that many people, other than the Indian trainer.

LISA MULLINS: This horrific attack that happened that traumatized India, traumatized the world, what importance do you read in the fact that one of his handlers was Indian?

CHRISTINE FAIR: Lustri Tiava [PH] has been able to attract disaffected Indian Muslims. Now, obviously terrorism has been going on in India now for decades, and many of the groups that were perpetuating the tax for Pakistan base. So, there was always a network of basically logistical, you know, safe houses and in other providers a logistical assistance, and that obviously implied Indian simplicity, and that’s gone on for decades. But Lustri Tiava [PH] in particular has been able to develop Indian cells, Indian operatives, Indian commanders. And, so, this is not something new, it’s just not something that is terribly, [LAUGHS] people aren’t terribly comfortable about talking about it.

LISA MULLINS: And is that kind of thing then that is addressed now? I mean, after Kassab talks about this, tells the judge, confesses, is that the kind of thing that Indians themselves start talking about?

CHRISTINE FAIR: Well, not really, because the preponderance of the attack was really executed by Pakistan based militants. The real focus is, what is the Pakistani State going to do? And I think all of the eyes now are on Pakistan. And this came up, of course, with Secretary Quentin’s visit. Now, she was very clear that she expects Pakistan to engage in a transparent judicial proceeding to bring the individuals culpable to some sort of account.

LISA MULLINS: What is the bigger picture here? I mean, this young man is telling a story, saying he was disaffected young man who took up arms not because of ideology, but because there was very little else for him to do to escape poverty. For you though–

CHRISTINE FAIR: See, I take a lot of umbrage to that characterization of this event. Terrorism in South Asia is not like terrorism elsewhere, because the group that we’re talking about here is not just spring up out of nowhere. This was a group actually set up actively with the assistance of Pakistan’s external intelligence agency. So, it’s not a non-fate actor in the way that one might think about other terrorist groups. For example, like Al Qaeda, where individuals just sort of bumble along, need a recruiter and find themselves in a boat killing Indians. So I think this sort of, he’s a young disaffected guy who’s poor, had an opportunity, became a criminal and then joined the militant group. That’s a sideline from the big story, which is, the international community in Pakistan itself has been unable to get Pakistan to renounce terrorism as a tool of foreign policy. So, even if every person in Pakistan wasn’t poor and disaffected, if you’re tool of foreign policy is terrorism, there will be a way to command those missions. And I think the real question for the United States is, how do we persuade Pakistan to seize and assist from relying upon this tool.

LISA MULLINS: Is, does the United States have it within its power to get Pakistan to stop doing that? Certainly has put a lot of pressure on Pakistan and other areas against Al Auida. I mean, how much power does the US have to do that?

CHRISTINE FAIR: My personal assessment is, that the United States has very little sway. We certainly have less sway than the Indians think we do. And the only way for Pakistan to go forward, actually is for Pakistani’s, the citizenry, to come to some kind of conclusion about what kind of state that they wanna live in.

LISA MULLINS: Christine, thank you very much. Christine Fair, senior political scientist with the Rand Corporation, and a professor at Georgetown University. We spoke to her from New Delhi, India. Thank you very much.

CHRISTINE FAIR: No, thank you, have a great day.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: One of Barack Obama’s first acts as President was to order that the detention camp at Guantanamo be closed. But a task force that’s studying how to do that, just missed a key deadline, and it’s getting a six-month extension. As The World’s Matthew Bell reports, it’s putting Mr. Obama’s promised deadline for Guantanamo’s closing in doubt.

MATTHEW BELL: Obama administration officials say they’re still on track to close Guantanamo by next January, but that goal might be proving tougher than the White House originally planned. At the very least, the six-month delay announced last night puts the January deadline in serious jeopardy, says Ken Gude of the liberal leaning Center for American Progress in Washington.

KEN GUDE: The administration certainly isn’t giving up and neither am I giving up on the one-year timeline. They’ve got a lot of work to do in a very rapid order to meet that deadline, and it seems now likely that it could be pushed back.

MATTHEW BELL: But Gude says he’s less concerned about arbitrary deadlines, than he is with getting US policy right.

KEN GUDE: It is clear, despite what has been kind of a sluggish process so far, that the administration is firmly committed to closing Guantanamo and reforming US detention policy. That hasn’t changed regardless of what timeline they may now be working on. Guantanamo will be closed. It may not be closed as rapidly as the administration has hoped, but it will be closed.

MATTHEW BELL: President Obama’s getting heat from both the right and the left on this issue. The ACLU says this delay could be a worrisome sign that the Obama administration might keep the Bush era system of military commissions in place. Or that it will continue holding some Guantanamo detainees indefinitely without charges or trial. The ACLU says this could lead to years of legal battles instead of the swift and certain justice that Mr. Obama says he wants. On the right, the Republican Senate leader. Mitch McConnell, described the missed deadline on detention policy as a further sign that the administration had no plan in place when it said it would close down Guantanamo. Part of the problem here, according to Sarah Mendelson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is that the legal and political questions being addressed are tough ones.

SARAH MENDELSON: But I also worry that there needs to be more senior guidance, that maybe there needs to be an advisory committee that needs to be shepherding this process as opposed to as one member of the task force explained to me, you know, ‘I’m basically a bureaucrat.’

MATTHEW BELL: Mendelson says the White House should have done itself a favor by appointing a high-level commission for closing Guantanamo along the lines of the 9-11 Commission or the Iraq Study Group. But even so, she adds, that would not have done away with one of the biggest obstacles facing the Obama White House.

SARAH MENDELSON: The problem is that the way the Bush administration packaged this was very bizarre. On the one hand, they actually released over 500 people from Guantanamo, over 500. And we have no visibility or clarity into how they did that, what the decision process was. On the other hand, they made it seem as if Guantanamo had zero costs, that it was somehow risk free, when in fact, it was a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda.

MATTHEW BELL: US military officials have said that Guantanamo has proved to be an effective recruiting tool in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Another problem, US allies have been reluctant to accept Guantanamo detainees, and Congress has made a political football out of the issue, says Ken Gude of the Center for American Progress.

KEN GUDE: I mean nothing could be more stupid, frankly, than that pathetic assertion of fear that many Republicans and some Democrats have used to scare into thinking that Guantanamo detainees are somehow these super villains who from 23 hour lockdown inside a super max federal penitentiary can somehow wreak havoc on the citizens of Florence, Colorado or Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas or Marion, Illinois. I mean that’s just ridiculous.

MATTHEW BELL: What’s not clear yet is how Mr. Obama will come down on the big question of indefinite detention without charge for some detainees. The president has said he’s uncomfortable with the idea, but it appears his administration is wrestling with the issue, and will continue to be for longer than anticipated. For The World, I’m Matthew Bell.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: A group of Venezuelan opposition leaders are in Washington now, they’re talking with the head of the Organization of American States, about their concerns over the state of democracy in Venezuela. This meeting’s is being held after the Mayor of Caracas, Venezuela held a brief hunger strike. He was trying to pressure the OAS into talking to him and other opposition leaders and hearing their case. These opposition leaders say that the Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez, is a threat to democracy and freedom of expression in the South American nation. From Caracas, Will Grant reports.

WILL GRANT: The opposition in Venezuela is unhappy, and has been for some time. Now, they are taking their complaints about the socialist president, Hugo Chavez, to Washington. Among the complaints raised with the OAS are a series of presidential restrictions on opposition-led local government, and alleged attacks on the freedom of expression, and the country’s private media. All of which they say amounts to an erosion of democracy and civil liberties in the oil-rich nation. The Mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma said he traveled to Washington to protest over the way in which Mr. Chavez has appointed a Governor of the Capital District, who has absorbed around eighty percent of the mayor’s powers, budget and staff. The opposition say that Mr. Chavez has undermined their victories in November’s local elections, and has coordinated a strategy to prevent them from governing their regions, something which the Venezuelan government denies.

[SOUND CLIP]

WILL GRANT: For his part, the head of the OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza, was tight-lipped following the meeting, saying that his was not the correct organization to deal with internal constitutional issues in Venezuela. Among the opposition’s main complaints were the alleged attacks on the country’s private media outlets. The OAS talks coincide with a government move to shut down some 240 radio stations in Venezuela, estimated to be about half of the radio on the dial in Venezuela. The governments say the stations didn’t register their license papers ahead of a deadline last month. The opposition say it’s an attempt to silence dissent.

[SOUND CLIP]

WILL GRANT: In 2007, huge demonstrations were held when the oldest privately-owned TV channel in Venezuela was taken off the public airwaves after the government denied it to renewal of its national broadcast license, accusing the station’s owners of supporting a failed coup attempt against Mr. Chavez five years earlier.

[SOUND CLIP]

WILL GRANT: Now a similar storm is brewing now over a second private TV station, Globovision, which takes a similarly anti Chavez editorial line, seen during their recent reporting of a clash between the public and the National Guard in a town called Curiepe. Mr. Chavez has threatened to take the channel off the air, describing the owner, Guillermo Zuloaga, as a madman with a canon. Mr. Zuloaga is currently under investigation for alleged illegal business dealings, and Globovision was recently fined more than two million dollars for tax evasion. For The World, Will Grant, in Caracas.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins, and this is The World. It’d be nice to have your own personal chef. Just imagine every meal prepared to the highest culinary standards, and to your personal tastes, be they high or low. Well, it’s not just a fantasy for everyone. Presidents, and prime ministers, and kings have their own private chefs. They belong to the Club de Chefs des Chefs, that is the Club of Chefs of Leaders. This week, the 25 members of this exclusive club are holding their annual meeting. They’re touring Italy, in fact, right now they’re in the town of Assisi. These are chefs from France, Italy and Russia among others. We got a couple of them on the line.

MARK FLANIGAN: My name is Mark Flanigan, and I’m chef to her majesty the queen.

LISA MULLINS: Which, I imagine is a title your mother is extremely proud of. Can you tell me how long you’ve been doing it?

MARK FLANIGAN: I’ve been at Buckingham Palace for seven years.

LISA MULLINS: Cooking for the queen all that time?

MARK FLANIGAN: That’s right, yeah.

LISA MULLINS: Now, what kind of tips are you getting on this tour of Italy, that you can bring back and possibly use in your preparations for the queen?

MARK FLANIGAN: Well, at the moment we’re just at the start of the trip, and we are just experiencing Roman cuisine.

LISA MULLINS: Roman cuisine?

MARK FLANIGAN: Which is very simple, uncomplicated, fair. It’s very tasty, really lovely.

LISA MULLINS: What’s your favorite thing so far?

MARK FLANIGAN: So far, I think the favorite thing was Porchetta.

LISA MULLINS: Porchetta is what?

MARK FLANIGAN: It was a very slow roasted leg of pork, with lots of herbs and spices. Very simple, but it’s very, very tasty.

LISA MULLINS: And do you know if this is the kind of thing the queen likes. I mean, what is her favorite dish?

MARK FLANIGAN: Well, we don’t normally talk about what the favorite dish is of a majesty are, because as soon as somebody finds out that’s what they would try offer her everywhere she went. And pretty soon it wouldn’t be her favorite.

LISA MULLINS: [LAUGHS] It would no longer be her favorite, but maybe she’ll be trying roast leg of pork pretty soon?

MARK FLANIGAN: Maybe.

LISA MULLINS: Maybe?

MARK FLANIGAN: Yeah, I hope so.

LISA MULLINS: Alright. Mr. Flanigan, there are other fellow chefs of world leaders around, who’s closest to you?

MARK FLANIGAN: I have Hilton Little from South Africa.

LISA MULLINS: Okay, it’s been a pleasure to talk to you, thank you.

MARK FLANIGAN: [OVERLAPPING] And you, thanks.

HILTON LITTLE: This is Hilton speaking, good afternoon.

LISA MULLINS: Hello Hilton, this is Lisa Mullins in Boston. Can you tell me who you are the professional chef for?

HILTON LITTLE: I started out being the professional chef President then, Nelson Mandela, President Baki, and now for the President Jacob Zuma.

LISA MULLINS: I imagine you’re pretty good then.

HILTON LITTLE: I try.

LISA MULLINS: [LAUGHS] You try? Because there are three subsequent presidents who you’ve been cooking for. So is there an overlap between what you cook right now in South Africa, and anything that you’re exploring there in Italy? Or are they completely different?

HILTON LITTLE: Not that much different, okay? In South Africa we have what’s called a rainbow cuisine, a little bit of everything, you know? We call is some of cuisine, some of this and some of that.

LISA MULLINS: [LAUGHS] Some of this and some of that.

HILTON LITTLE: [LAUGHS] And, because the presidents cannot dine in restaurants, we try and keep the menu interesting. So today we would cook Italian, tomorrow we’d cook, you know, different, from another country. And for me it’s a great opportunity just to be here, you know? Because if I wanna cook an Italian dish, what better place to finally get to know the recipe and actually to see them make it, you know?

LISA MULLINS: Absolutely. So, you’ve discovered a certain Italian dish that you may wanna serve once you get back home and cook for Jacob Zuma?

HILTON LITTLE: As Mark mentioned, you know, we enjoyed the slow roast pot today.

LISA MULLINS: Yes.

HILTON LITTLE: It was very good. And the other night we had something completely different, there was tripe with tomato, which was very tasty.

LISA MULLINS: Tripe is intestines…

HILTON LITTLE: That is correct, yes.

LISA MULLINS: …of…

HILTON LITTLE: The lamb.

LISA MULLINS: …of the lamb. And, yeah, it’s very traditional Italian dish.

HILTON LITTLE: Yeah. And also we used that [INDISCERNIBLE], as well as one of the [INDISCERNIBLE] dishes. But this one was prepared with a reduction of tomato and lots of herbs, it was very, very tender.

LISA MULLINS: Very tender.

HILTON LITTLE: Very enjoyable, yes.

LISA MULLINS: Well, if Jacob Zuma doesn’t like, it sounds like you will.

HILTON LITTLE: I will, you better believe it.

LISA MULLINS: [LAUGHS] It’s been very nice to speak with you, Hilton, thank you very much.

HILTON LITTLE: [OVERLAPPING] Nice speaking to you too ma’am.

LISA MULLINS: Okay. All the best, enjoy your trip.

CHRISTIAN GARCIA: Hi.

LISA MULLINS: Hello, who’s this?

CHRISTIAN GARCIA: I’m Christian Garcia, chef of the Prince Albert of Monaco.

LISA MULLINS: Oh, for the prince of Monaco?

CHRISTIAN GARCIA: Yeah.

LISA MULLINS: Christian Garcia, thank you, where are you from personally?

CHRISTIAN GARCIA: I’m French, and I’m working for the Prince Albert for 22 years.

LISA MULLINS: Oh my goodness. Well, obviously you have cooked an awful lot of meals for him. Can you tell us what you could possibly learn in Italy that you can bring back to Prince Albert the second?

CHRISTIAN GARCIA: Yes. So, you know, in Monaco we are close Italian, so I use most of the time the Italian produce and the [INDISCERNIBLE] of the Prince Albert is a Mediterranean cuisine, and the cuisine de la Riviera, with Italian Riviera, and French Riviera.

LISA MULLINS: Ah, I see. So he’s very familiar with it. And Prince Albert I think is also a big fan of organic vegetables, correct?

CHRISTIAN GARCIA: Yes, the prince has a summer residence, and every day we have food and vegetables from the garden.

LISA MULLINS: Well it sounds, Mr. Garcia, like you’re not gonna be able to surprise him with anything. Do you have a mission on this tour of Italy? Something in particular to bring home to the prince?

CHRISTIAN GARCIA: Oh, I’m sure that the mission is to discover of [INDISCERNIBLE] and couture of the country. It’s chef is a kind of a ambassador of his country. Two years ago I organized the meeting in Monaco, and we tried to show all the best of Monaco.

LISA MULLINS: Mr. Garcia, very nice to speak with you. We hope you enjoy your trip.

CHRISTIAN GARCIA: Thank you, and excuse for my English.

LISA MULLINS: Christian Garcia is the chef for Prince Albert the second of Monaco. We also spoke to South African chef, Hilton Little, and Mark Flanigan, who’s the chef for Queen Elizabeth of England.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: Now after partaking of fine cuisine, some folks like to have a smoke. Of course, those folks are finding fewer and fewer cafes and restaurants that allow them to light up. Here’s an exception to the “No Smoking” trend though, Akiko Fujita takes us to a cafe in Japan, where smoking is not only allowed, it’s required.

AKIKO FUJITA: A “smokers only” sign greets visitors at Tokyo’s Café Tobacco.

[SOUND CLIP]

AKIKO FUJITA: The counter where customers order their daily cup of coffee isn’t any different from a local Starbucks, but walk upstairs and you smell the customers puffing away. A giant ceiling fan sucks in the smoke as businessmen in suits light up one cigarette after another.

[SOUND CLIP]

AKIKO FUJITA: Customer Tatsuo Yoshinaga calls the café a pleasant surprise. He adds you can’t even smoke in some coffee shops these days. Store manager Kazuhiro Kawano says his café became “smokers-only” after neighboring restaurants at Café Tobacco’s original store went “smoke free.” Smokers started seeking refuge at Kawano’s store. Business picked up so much, Café Tobacco opened its second store this spring in Shimbashi, a business district teeming with salary men dressed in dark suits.

[SOUND CLIP]

AKIKO FUJITA: Kawano says he wants this to be a place of relaxation for smokers at a time when the habit is increasingly frowned upon. Smoking rates in Japan are declining, but the numbers remain high. Japan Tobacco, the country’s only cigarette maker says 40 percent of men still light up. That number is just 12 percent for women. Local governments have successfully pushed for smoking-bans on streets, train stations, and taxis, but there’s still no wide-ranging law that keeps cigarettes out of restaurants. Many place non-smoking sections right next to seats for smokers.

[SOUND CLIP]

AKIKO FUJITA: Anti-smoking advocate Buganku Watanabe blames the lack of smoking bans on the government’s hand in Japan Tobacco. He says the country owns half of the private company. And concerns over profits trump those over public health. Watanabe insists most smokers want to quit, and that places like Café Tobacco aren’t doing them any favors. So long as the ashtrays stay out, he says the habit won’t go away. For The World, I’m Akiko Fujita in Tokyo.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins, and this is The World, a co-production of the B-B-C World Service, P-R-I, and W-G-B-H, Boston. You’ve heard it said, we never know the worth of water till the well is dry. Alas, the proverbial well in the Middle East has been dry for years. Water shortages contribute to the already substantial tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. Linda Gradstein reported yesterday about the lack of cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government on the issue, but as Linda Gradstein now reports some non-governmental organizations on both sides are working on the water problems together.

[SOUND CLIP]

LINDA GRADSTEIN: On the outskirts of the Palestinian village of Uja, near the West Bank town of Jericho, a natural spring bubbles and feeds a small river that winds toward the village. The spring is full now after recent heavy rains, but in a few months, say residents here, it will dry up completely.  Despite the recent rain, the region remains in the grip of a long-term drought.  And Uja mayor Suleiman al-Romaniyim says the local water crisis is intensifying each year, driving many farmers out of business.  Romaniyim hopes to reverse that trend by somehow getting more water for his village.

SOLEIMAN AL-ROMANIYIM: [TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH] Our aim is that we can be supplied either by extra water, through the Palestinian water authority, and we are asking the Israelis to give us permission and permits to be able to drill new wells, or to create dams to retain the water and not to lose it.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: Mayor al-Romaniyim is pinning his hopes for more water in part on help from an independent organization, Friends of The Earth Middle East, which is trying to help the village find new ways to get the spring’s water to outlying farms. Friends of the Earth is one of the few independent groups that’s able to talk with both the Israeli and Palestinian governments about water issues.  The group has offices in Israel, Jordan and the West Bank, and has established dozens of local centers, including one currently under construction here in Uja.  Nader al-Khatib is its Palestinian director.

NADER AL KHATIB: We are a regional organization that is still very active and had gained credibility in the three countries. When it comes to the Palestinian authority, we are well known, we have close relations to the relevant authorities.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: The system that divides water between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank dates back to the Oslo peace talks more than a decade ago. The Palestinian population has grown significantly since then, but the amount of water they receive is the same.  Israel also supplies water to Jordan, under the two countries’ peace agreement. And the region’s drought is putting still more strain on all three parties. Gideon Bromberg, the Israel Director of Friends of the Earth Middle East, says that just as the problems are regional, there’s growing awareness that the solutions must be regional as well.

GIDEON BROMBERG: We see steps, concrete steps, commitments where there were no commitments, awareness where there was little awareness, and therefore we remain optimistic that in this issue the cooperation that we do lead will bring fruit.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: One of Friends of the Earth’s highest profile efforts is a project to increase the amount of water available in the West Bank by cleaning up the heavily polluted Jordan River. Another site of collaboration is Kibbutz Ketura, in southern Israel.  That’s where students from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and around the world go to study and live together at the Arava Institute.  The Institute is affiliated with Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Clive Lipchin is its director of research.

CLIVE LIPCHIN: Where there is cooperation is in the research field, a lot of cooperation. And most of the cooperation is through the NGO communities. I mean, the Palestinian territories in water sector, I think in some respects the NGO community is more powerful and more influential than the government. The Palestinian government cannot really openly collaborate with Israel for their own political reasons. But NGO’s are more pragmatic, you know, have greater maneuverability.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: Lipchin has just completed a three-year study of two streams that run through Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  The streams are so polluted they can no longer supply drinking water.  Lipchin says he worked extremely well with his Palestinian counterpart, who happens to be Nader al-Khatib, the Palestinian director of Friends of the Earth. Both Bromberg and Lipchin are calling for a new mechanism for water sharing between their government and the Palestinians.  And while many issues, such as the future borders of a Palestinian state and Jerusalem are mired in controversy, these experts say working together on water sharing could improve the adversaries’ overall relationship. Ultimately, given the growing severity of the problem, many experts say Israelis and Palestinians will have no choice but to cooperate more broadly on water issues at least. Again, Gideon Bromberg of Friends of the Earth Middle East.

GIDEON BROMBERG: We’re dependent on each other. This is not an issue of doing a favor to the other side, this is a self-interest, this is an issue of necessity that can no longer wait. One of our strongest messages of the moment is that the water issue must not be held hostage to the conflict.

LINDA GRADSTEIN: For the world, I’m Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: The water issue is being held hostage to climate change. Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. She’s at her home in Williamstown, Massachusetts. We’ve just heard Elizabeth from Linda Gradstein about how water shortages are straining Israeli and Palestinian communities. I wonder if you could tell us now what climate scientists know about how the Middle East climate is changing now, and how that’s likely to further affect water supplies there.

ELIZABETH KOLBERT: Well, the predictions for the Middle East, and in fact for the whole, you know, what’s called the Mediterranean [INDISCERNIBLE] are that that area is going to dry out, continue to dry out as the world warms up. So, would expect to see an increasing risk of draught in that area.

LISA MULLINS: And in terms of the larger picture, how are world wide water supplies going to be affected by climate change to the extent that we know?

ELIZABETH KOLBERT: Well, what we have a pretty strong idea of is, the places that are already dry are gonna get dryer, and places that are already wet, are likely to get wetter. That’s the sort of general rule. Now, when you go down and boor down into individual areas, it gets much more complicated to do the prediction. In general what we’re seeing is Northern Latitudes seem to be getting rainier, and Southern Latitudes seem to be getting dryer.

LISA MULLINS: So for instance, looking at an atlas then, would there be a graphic way that you can describe how things would be changing?

ELIZABETH KOLBERT: Well, one thing that we know, for example, is that in the region called the Sub Tropics is expanding, so there are these two belts around the world, sort of, you know, roughly. You know, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, and those are dry areas, so those are areas that rainfall tends to avoid. And those are moving, shifting towards the post, so that is affecting, that’s gonna affect places like the Mediterranean bases, places like the American South West, places like Australia. So, you see that those arid bands that are called the Sub Tropic are shifting towards the polls, by, you know, a significant distance.

LISA MULLINS: Are there places in the world where water supplies will actually be improved by the change that global warming might bring?

ELIZABETH KOLBERT: Yes, quite likely, you’re quite likely, you know, going to see parts of the world where overall rainfall is predicted to increase. Now, that doesn’t mean that you won’t also have trades of drought as a climate change. As in the other point that I need to make, and it’s a really important one, is that if your climate is continually changing, so you keep adding CO2 to the atmosphere and your climate just keeps changing, then, you know, you may benefit temporarily or your region might temporarily get more info, but eventually you might also to reduce rainfall. So, in general there’s this notion of draught sort of spreading from the equator toward the poles, as the world warms up. And one of the key things to remember, is unless we stabilize CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, we are not gonna stay above the climate, we’re gonna have a climate that’s continually changing.

LISA MULLINS: So, because the climate keeps changing, CO2 levels keep changing, your weather wherever you are might keep changing for better or worse?

ELIZABETH KOLBERT: Exactly.

LISA MULLINS: You have written so much about this issue, I wonder Elizabeth, if you can tell us of an area that you are particularly watching right now.

ELIZABETH KOLBERT: Well, I think one area that’s really interesting is Australia, where they’re having a very serious draught, very much predicted by the models of climate change. And people in Australia are very worried that this is the future, they’re seeing the future, and it really has had a big impact on politics in Australia. And it’s a country, that like the US, had decline [INDISCERNIBLE] protocol, but now has, and now is very, very robustly, you know, debating what to do about their carbon missions because they can sort of see how it’s affecting them right now.

LISA MULLINS: And they know for sure that the draught and the tremendous amount of fires that devastated much of the east in Australia last year are connected with climate change?

ELIZABETH KOLBERT: Well, you never know these things for sure because the weather is a complicated phenomenon, and until you get very long term data sets, you know, you can’t make these connections, as you say, for sure. But it is what you would predict, it is what was predicted and now you’re seeing it. So that’s considered pretty compelling by climate scientists, by any scientist.

LISA MULLINS: Elizabeth Kolbert is a staff writer for the New Yorker. Her most recent book is called Field Notes from a Catastrophe. Elizabeth, nice to speak with you. Thank you.

ELIZABETH KOLBERT: Thanks for having me.

LISA MULLINS: You can find links related to the connections among water, climate and security at the-world-dot-org.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

More information:

• International Institute for Sustainable Development
  Rising Temperatures, Rising Tensions: Climate change and the risk of violent conflict in the Middle East (2009)
• World Bank Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Sector Development (2009)
• Quenching the thirst: International water shortages?
• Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Environmental Change and Security Program
  Water Conflict and Cooperation: Looking over the Horizon
• National Intelligence Assessment on the National
  Security Implications of Global Climate Change to 2030, 25 June 2008
• Council on Foreign Relations
  The Race for Resources: Conflict in the 21st Century, March 28, 2008

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: The longest total solar eclipse of this century will last more than six minutes, and it happens tomorrow morning. You won’t be able to see the eclipse in the western hemisphere, though. But in Asia it will be a glorious sight, weather permitting. The eclipse will be visible first at dawn in India’s Gulf of Khambhat. Then, it’s gonna be seen in a broad swath moving to Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and China. Reporter Bill Marcus is awaiting the big show in Shanghai, China, where it’s already Wednesday morning.

BILL MARCUS: Central and Central eastern China goes dark later this morning at 9:39 local time. That’s the only thing we know for sure. It may rain, clouds are likely. A Shanghai Astronomical Observatory spokesman in state media is almost apologizing that it will be a great pity if the weather ruins the event. In ancient times, an eclipse would be very scary.

DU MIN DE: Yin and Yang is not just sun and moon. Yin and Yang represent, sky, earth, and human being.

BILL MARCUS: Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor, Du Ming De says eclipses are all about balance.

DU MIN DE: The moon will cover the sun, this is not so good, it’s not a good thing, and many bad things will happen.

BILL MARCUS: The eclipses in China fall into that category of catastrophe that includes typhoons and earthquakes. They used to foretell the downfall of dynasties, if not governments.

JAMES HARGETT: It does not mean that the communist party will fall.

BILL MARCUS: That’s James Hargett, Professor of East Asian Studies at the State University of New York at Albany.

JAMES HARGETT: It could mean higher retail prices because as a result of the attention that China is getting, more people are going there, more people are spending money. Greater demand, higher prices.

BILL MARCUS: State media are delighted. In China, thousand foreigners are filling hotel rooms. From Chongqing in the West through, Wuhan, Hangzhou, and finally Shanghai on the East coast, commercial television stations, restaurants, hawkers. Everybody is looking forward to what is shaping up to be a very profitable day. At one restaurant called New Heights, seven stories above Shanghai’s famous waterfront the Bund, 100 Japanese are renting the place for the morning. Price tag, seven thousand dollars. It started months ago. Last month I got an e-mail advertisement, the first total solar eclipse since the Ming Dynasty of the 16th century, it said.  It urged me not to miss it because the next one won’t come until 2132.

JAMES HARGETT: This is what China wants. It wants to be a major player on the world stage. And we’ll take Olympics, we’ll take eclipses, we’ll take whatever we can get to get that attention.

BILL MARCUS: For The World, I’m Bill Marcus in Shanghai.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.