Towards a Middle East at peace: hidden issues in Arab–Israeli hydropolitics

Abstract

When peace negotiations do one day resume between Israelis and Arabs, shared water resources will again take centre stage, acting both as an irritant between the parties, and as a tremendous inducement to reach agreement. The ‘hidden’ hydropolitical issues that will need to be resolved between Israel, Lebanon and Syria in the course of eventual boundary talks are considered. Two of these issues, the village of Ghajar and its relation to the Wazani Springs, and the possibility of groundwater flow from the Litani to the Jordan headwaters, change the fundamental understanding of the relationship between hydrologic and political claims, and could threaten the entire approach to water negotiations both between Israel and Syria and between Israel and Lebanon. Fortunately, other agreements within the basin can inform the path solutions here might take. The most critical step towards conflict resolution is separating the concepts of territorial sovereignty from water security. This can be done most effectively by offering joint management, monitoring and enforcement strategies, as well as encouraging greater transparency in water data across boundaries.

Notes

Correspondence address: Aaron T. Wolf, Department of Geosciences, 104 Wilkinson Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331‐5506, USA. Email: [email protected]

Our data come from three sources. Monthly peak and total flows are reproduced in the Israel Ministry of Agriculture's Hydrological Yearbook of Israel: Summary of Records Prior to October 1990 (Israel Ministry of Agriculture, 1992). These were confirmed for 1960 through 1980 with copies of the original field notes. Post‐1990 annual data are from Klein (1999). These data, reproduced as Figure 5, record no other sudden changes, such as gauging practices or location, which might affect the results.

Associates for Middle East Research (1987). The diversions start in 1965 with 220 MCM; 1966, 300 MCM; 1967, 300 MCM; 1968, 390 MCM; 1969, 530 MCM; 1970, 617 MCM; then level off in1971 to about 530 MCM/yr.

Available at http://www.transboundarywaters.orst.edu

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Arnon Medzini

Correspondence address: Aaron T. Wolf, Department of Geosciences, 104 Wilkinson Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331‐5506, USA. Email: [email protected]