“A jar of yamouna oil”: the story of the 43 peoples … and thugs!

On those days every year, the cry rises in the villages west of Baalbek that feed on the waters of Yammouneh. They get up after all their attempts to regain their right to “Mouna”, and they have nothing left but to scream to show the suffering of a decade and a half. It is “bigger” than the story of the oil jug, according to the people who lost their right to benefit from the water from the Yammouna springs. Although they live on the banks of the Yamouneh, they are forced to buy water in tanks to satisfy their needs, due to the “power” of some thugs over the water, selling it and disposing of it as if it were private property, in the eyes of the State.

43 villages west of Baalbek are deprived of water by a group of people whose number does not exceed the fingers of one hand, while the state institutions interested in this “sector” remain watching, although they are fully convinced that what these people are doing is described theft.
The issue is not a question of people’s thirst, but of leaving these people in charge of the thugs, knowing that all officials know the identity of the aggressors in the water network. It is true that the Lebanese army worked about three years ago to suppress these violations, and the cost at that time was the fall of the “blood”, but the repression did not last long, as the attackers returned to their previous practices with some modifications . While they used to cut the “sugar” from village water to irrigate agricultural crops, today they have expanded the scope of their work. In addition to watering the crops, they began the trade of selling water to farmers in exchange for a financial allowance “for tonight,” according to one farmer. This led several farmers to abandon villages that have no water and turn to the plains of the cities that feed on the waters of Yammouna, such as the plains of Boudai, Shalifa, Al-Alaq, Al-Hafir and Al-Saida. One farmer relates that “most of the farmers who have sought refuge in our villages are large inherited potato growers who rent dozens of dunams and irrigate them by the shot, at a cost that does not exceed a million pounds a night.” It is a small cost compared to the daily need for farmers to use diesel to provide irrigation.
All this happens, while the person in charge of the sector remains on the sidelines, pretending that there is no trick. Thus, for example, the CEO of the Bekaa Water Corporation, Rizk Rizk, likes to talk about the issue “beyond our control”, stating that the infractions have become countless, noting that there are “28 holes along the water channel. water in Dar Al-Wasi` before they reach the waterfall and enter The 16-inch line that feeds the villages west of Baalbek. “Even this network, from the distance of Dar Al-Wasila, does not depend on infractions, since everyone “participates” in the invasion from Budai to Mazraat Al-Dulayl to Al-Saeeda. So why is he not being repressed? Rizk blames the security services that “dozens of handwritten books and references in which we demand support to suppress the aggressors in the waters of Yamouneh and arrest them. We also turn to party leaders and activities in the region, but all show positivity and the desire to help and provide support and support, but at work the employees are pa rados. The establishment alone is unable to carry out its work and is subject to attacks and shootings. ”

Those who live on the banks of the Yammouna buy water to meet their needs.

What Rizk says is denied by a senior security official, as he emphasized that “the security services are not reluctant to fulfill their duty to suppress attacks on the water sources of Yammouna”, and in turn blamed “the Bekaa Water Corporation and its employees. As a security agency, we report to the institution several times to inspect the network. In order to fully discover the locations of the violations and be able to monitor them, we are met with silence and lack of response. He asked: “Are security services required to protect the entire Yammouna water network and make its members water employees?”
“The bowl is lost”, and the officials exchange responsibilities, while the people are at the mercy of the thugs. They lose their right publicly and have no right to object. When will the state turn to its citizens?

Subscribe to «News» on YouTube here