Challenging hydro-hegemony: hydro-politics and local resistance in the Golan Heights and the Palestinian territories

Abstract

Hydro-hegemonic praxis defines much of Israel’s occupation that has continued since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Two empirical case studies of hydro-hegemony and counter-hegemony at local level are compared in this paper: the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Both case studies show that control over water resources and supply provides political power over others at local level. Yet non-violent resistance can be observed in these border areas. In border areas between Israel, Syria and Palestine, control over access and water supply plays an important role in the ability of Israel to exercise hegemonic power in daily hydro-politics, which in the long term is detrimental for the people and the environment and disrupts the hydrological balance in the entire Jordan River basin.

Keywords:

• Hydro-hegemony
• Israel
• Palestine
• Syria

Acknowledgements

Many wonderful people have contributed to this research in the form of providing time and critical reflection. In particular, the author would like to thank her colleagues at Lund University, Professor Karin Aggestam and Anna Sundell. From the global network of water and environmental scientists, many thanks to Mark Zeitoun, Michael Mason, Jeroen Warner, Mandy Turner and Muna Dajani for stimulating discussions and inspiring intellectual conversations. Finally, with great humbleness, thanks to the many people the author was privileged to meet from Majdal Shams, Battir and Wadi Fukin, who shared with her insight into their daily lives under Israeli occupation. The author thanks the Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their help.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

Earlier unpublished versions of this article were presented as draft papers at the National Conference on Peace and Conflict Research, 27–28 February 2014, Umeå, Sweden and at the International Association for Peace and Conflict Studies General Conference: Power and Peacebuilding, Humanitarian Conflict and Response Institute (HCRI), Manchester University, 12–13 September 2013, Manchester, UK.

1. The Lebanese and Syrian communities at the Israeli Occupied Golan Heights and Palestinian communities in the Occupied West Bank.

2. Interview with Syrian resident occupied Golan Heights 14 February 2012.

3. Interview with Syrian resident occupied Golan Heights, 15 February 2012.

4. Interview Syrian resident Golan Heights, 14 February 2012.

5. Under the Oslo Interim Agreement the Occupied West Bank is divided in Areas A, B and C. Area A: Full Palestinian civil and security control Area B: Full Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli–Palestinian security control Area C: Full Israeli control over security, planning and construction [16,17].

6. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva convention explicitly outlaws the transfer of an occupier’s civilian population into occupied territories; therefore Israeli settlement and annexation policies of occupied territories violate the Geneva Convention [19].

7. Examples of the consistent use of the term ‘Judea and Samaria’ are the so-called factsheets that are published by the Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) which calls itself the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria. When COGAT published their factsheet on water in the West Bank in 2012: www.cogat.idf.il/Sip_Storage/FILES/4/3274.pdf, it was immediately countered by a corrected factsheet published by Palestinian environmental and water NGOs from civil society: http://othersite.org/alternative-information-center-response-to-cogat-fact-sheet-on-water-in-west-bank/

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded by the Swedish Research Council. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.