Down to the River: Identity, Citizenship, Security, Borders and Water in the Occupied Golan Heights

Abstract

Currently there is no coherent or sustainable water cooperation among the five states—Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian territories and Syria—that share the Jordan River. Why do people not cooperate on sustainable river basin management, even if it seems the most rational course from the perspective of economic benefits? I hypothesize that the political uses of citizenship, identity and security at the local level hamper cooperation at the basin level and ignore cognitive dimensions of violence and conflict. In this article, I have chosen the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as a case study to illustrate hydropolitics in praxis, because the political future of this particular area in many respects affects the sustainable future of the Jordan River Basin and the entire Levant.

Keywords::

• Citizenship
• cognitive theory, Golan
• hydro-politics
• identity
• Israel
• rational choice
• transboundary water management (TWM)
• security
• Syria
• water

Acknowledgements

This article was written within the framework of the Lund University project, ‘Hydropolitics in the Jordan River Basin,’ and it was funded by the Swedish Research Council. I presented earlier versions at the Swedish National Conference on Peace and Conflict Research, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden, June 14–15, 2012; and at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), Lund University, Lund, Sweden, November 2, 2012.

Notes

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² S. Lonergan (2000) Water in the Jordan River Basin, in: H. A. Amery & A. T. Wolf (eds) Water in the Middle East: A Geography of Peace, pp. 48–49 (Austin: University of Texas Press).

³ A. Jägerskog (2003) Why States Cooperate over Shared Water: The Water Negotiations in the Jordan River Basin (Sweden: Linkoping University); A. Kramer (2008) Regional Water Cooperation and Peace Building in the Middle East (Brussels: Adelphi Research); and M. Zeitoun (2008) Power and Water in the Middle East: The Hidden Politics of the Palestinian-Israeli Water Conflict (London: I. B. Tauris).

⁴ A. T. Wolf (2000) Hydrostrategic Territory in the Jordan Basin, in: Amery & Wolf (eds) Water in the Middle East, pp. 110–112.

⁵ See, for example, C. Schindler (2002) The Land Beyond Promise: Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream (London: I. B. Tauris); S. Alatout (2006) Towards a Bio-territorial Conception of Power: Territory, Population, and Environmental Narratives in Palestine and Israel, Political Geography, 25, pp. 601–621; M. Zeitoun & J. Warner (2006) Hydro-hegemony: A Framework for Analysis of Transboundary Water Conflicts, Water Policy, 8, pp. 435–460; M. Daoudy (2008) A Missed Chance for Peace: Israel and Syria's Negotiations over the Golan Heights, Journal for International Affairs, 61(2), pp. 215–234; J. M. Trondalen (2008) Water and Peace for the People: PossibleSolutions to Water Disputes in the Middle East (Paris: UNESCO); M. Dajani (2011) Dry Peace: Syria, Israel and the Water of the Golan, Atkin Paper Series (London: ICSR); and J. Selby (2005) The Geopolitics of Water in the Middle East: Fantasies and Realities, Third World Quarterly, 26(2) pp. 329–334; J. Selby (2013) Cooperation, Domination and Colonisation: The Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee, WaterAlternatives, 6(1), pp. 1–24; and Y. Kipnis (2013) The Golan Heights: Political History, Settlement and Geography since 1949 (Abingdon, UK: Routledge).

⁶ Trondalen, Water and Peace for the People.

⁷P. Beaumont, Conflict, Co-existence and Cooperation: A Study of Water Use in the Jordan Basin, in Amery & Wolf (eds) Water in the Middle East, pp. 28–29.

⁸ FoEME/ECOPEACE (2011) Roadmap for the Rehabilitation of the Lower Jordan River (Tel Aviv: Friends of the Earth Middle East).

⁹ J. Molony, M. Stewart & N. Tuohy (2009) From Settlement to Shelf: The Economic Occupation of the Syrian Golan (Occupied Golan: Al-Marsad the Arab Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Golan); and Trondalen, Water and Peace for the People.

¹⁰ E. Ostrom (1990) Governing the Commons; Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

¹¹ S. Schoenfeld (2011) Contrasting Regional Environmentalisms in the Eastern Mediterranean: A social constructionist perspective, L'Espace Politique, 14(2), p. 25.

¹² Amery & Wolf, Water in the Middle East.

¹³ Jägerskog, Why States Cooperate over Shared Water.

¹⁴ Trondalen, Water and Peace for the People.

¹⁵ Selby, The Geopolitics of Water in the Middle East, pp. 329–334; and Selby, Cooperation, Domination and Colonisation: The Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee, pp. 1–24.

¹⁶ M. Zeitoun et al. (2012) Hydro-political Baseline of the Upper Jordan River (Beirut: Association of the Friends of Ibrahimm Abd el Al).

¹⁷Zeitoun & Warner, Hydro-hegemony—a Framework for Analysis of Transboundary Water Conflicts.

¹⁸ C. Sylvester (2013) War as Experience, Contributions from International Relations and Feminist Analysis (New York: Routledge).

¹⁹E. Svedberg (2000) The ‘Other’ Recreated, a Relational Approach to East-West Negotiations, PhD dissertation, Lund University Faculty of Political Science, Lund, Sweden; and N. Uphoff (1996) The Rehabilitation of Altruism and Cooperation in Learning from Gal Oya: Possibilities for Participatory Development and post-Newtonian Social Science, pp. 326–356 (London: Intermediate Publications).

²⁰Svedberg, The ‘Other’ Recreated; and E. W. Gorsevski (1999) Nonviolent Theory on Communication: The Implications for Theorizing a Nonviolent Rhetoric, Peace & Change, 24(4), pp. 445–475.

²¹ Gorsevski, Nonviolent Theory on Communication.

²² A 40-min long film called Nationality Unknown based on this academic research is available on-line at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v = -tUxAqV68WM.

²³ H. Amery (1997) The Role of Water Resources in the Evolution of the Israeli-Lebanese border, GeoJournal, 44(1), pp. 19–33.

²⁴ 1949 Armistice agreement, Article V.

²⁵ D. Eshel (2001) The Israel-Lebanon Border Enigma, IBRU Boundary and security Bulletin (Winter), pp. 72–83; and Amery, The Role of Water Resources in the Evolution of the Israeli-Lebanese Border.

²⁶L. Hajjar (ed.) (1993) Twenty-five years of Israeli Occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights: Proceedings of the First Study Day (Jerusalem: The Arab Association for Development); Trondalen, Water and Peace for the People; and Dajani, Dry Peace.

²⁷ Y. Kipnis (2013) The Golan Heights: Political History, Settlement and Geography since 1949 (Abingdon, UK: Routledge); and J. Molony, M. Stewart & N. Tuohy (2009) From Settlement to Shelf: The Economic Occupation of the SyrianGolan (Occupied Golan: Al-Marsad, Arab Centre for Human Rights in the occupied Golan).

²⁸ United Nations (2009) Human Rights in the Occupied Syrian Golan, Human Rights Council, United Nations General Assembly, 27 February. Available at http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/5EDA05102FDE89548525757C00655B20, accessed December 19, 2011.

²⁹ United Nations (2009) Human Rights in the Occupied Syrian Golan. Human Rights Council, United Nations General Assembly, 27 February. Available at http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/5EDA05102FDE89548525757C00655B20, accessed December 19, 2011.

³⁰ Kipnis, The Golan Heights.

³¹ Author interview, Director of Al-Marsad, Human Rights Organisation, Majdal Shams, February 19, 2012; and Molony et al., From Settlement to Shelf.

³² Hajjar, Twenty-five years of Israeli Occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights; and Kipnis, The Golan Heights.

³³ Israel-Syria: Agreement on Disengagement, Geneva, June 5, 1974, UNSC, S/11302/Add. 1

³⁴ Annex A, art. H.

³⁵ UNSC: Report to the Secretary-General on the UNDOF for period July 1–December 31, 2011, S/2011/748. Available at http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/undof/reports.shtml, accessed February 3, 2012.

³⁶ Kipnis, The Golan Heights.

³⁷ Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1981) The Golan Heights Law. Available at http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Golan+Heights+ law.html, accessed January 3, 2013; see also Kipnis, The Golan Heights; and Hajjar, Twenty-five years of Israeli Occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.

³⁸ Kipnis, The Golan Heights; and Dajani, Dry Peace.

³⁹ Kipnis, The Golan Heights.

⁴⁰ A kibbutz (plural kibbutzim) is a communal farming settlement where resources and work are shared within the settler community, while a moshav (plural moshavim) is an agricultural cooperative settlement.

⁴¹ M. Daoudy (2008) A Missed Chance for Peace: Israel and Syria's Negotiations over the Golan Heights, Journal forInternational Affairs, 61(2) pp. 215–234; Dajani, Dry Peace; and Kipnis, The Golan Heights.

⁴² Kipnis, The Golan Heights.

⁴³ G. Levy (2012) Mount Hermon's Pure Snow Can't Hide Israel's Dark Past—the Entire Golan Heights is Occupied Exactly as the West Bank is, Haaretz, December 2, 2012.

⁴⁴ D. Rudge (2000) Mount Hermon Swamped by 11,000 visitors, Jerusalem Post, October 1, 2000.

⁴⁵ Israel Faxx (2000) Hermon Ski Resort Hopes for Cooperative Management with Syrians, Israel Wire, January 20, 2000.

⁴⁶ R. Murphy & D. Gannon (2008) Changing the Landscape: Israel's Gross Violations of International Law in the Occupied Syrian Golan, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, 11, pp. 139–174 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

⁴⁷ Author interviews, Occupied Golan Heights, Spring 2013.

⁴⁸ Z. Mimi & B. Sawalhi (2003) A Decision Tool for Allocating the Waters of the Jordan River Basin between all Riparian Parties, Water Resource Management, 17, pp. 447–461.

⁴⁹ A. T. Wolf (1996) Middle East Water Conflicts and Directions for Conflict Resolution, Food, Agriculture, and the Environment, Discussion Paper 12 (Washington: International Food Policy Research Institute). Available at http://www.agedhq.org/ffe/pdffiles/pdf08/mewcdfcr.pdf; accessed December 19, 2012.

⁵⁰ C. Smith (1966) The Disputed Waters of the Jordan, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 40, pp. 111–128.

⁵¹ R. Courcier, R. Venot & J. P. Molle (2005) Historical Transformations of the Lower Jordan River Basin (in Jordan): Changes in Water Use and Projections (1950–2025). (Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute), p. 91. Available at http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/assessment/files_new/publications/CA%20Research%20Reports/ColouredCARR9.pdf, accessed September 12, 2012.

⁵² J. Cooley (1984) The War over Water, Foreign Policy, 54, pp. 3–26; and Kipnis, The Golan Heights.

⁵³ A. Hewedy (1989) Militarization and Security in the Middle East: Its Implications on Development and Democracy (Tokyo: United Nations University).

⁵⁴ Cooley (1984) The War over Water, pp. 3–26.

⁵⁵ Author Interview, Buq'ata, February 15, 2012.

⁵⁶ In 2011 a total of 1,758 individuals and 12,000 tons of apples crossed Charlie gate; see UNDOF S/2011/748/359^*.

⁵⁷ UNSC (2011) Report of the Secretary-General on the UNDOF for the period from January 1–June 30, S/2011/359^*; and UNSC (2012) Report of the Secretary-General on the UNDOF for the period from July 1–December 31, 2011, S/2011/748.

⁵⁸ Author Interview. Majdal Shams, February 13, 2012.

⁵⁹ Ibid.

⁶⁰ Author Interview, Buqa'ata, February, 15, 2012

⁶¹ Molony et al. (2009) From Settlement to Shelf, p. 71.

⁶² Levy, Mount Hermon's Pure Snow Can't Hide Israel's Dark Past—the Entire Golan Heights.

⁶³ Author Interview, Majdal Shams, February 12, 2012.

⁶⁴ Author Interview, Buq'ata, February 15, 2012.

⁶⁵ Author Interview, Ma'ale Gamla, June, 2013.

⁶⁶ Ibid.

⁶⁷ M. Chulov & H. Sherwood (2013) Syrian Troop Redeployments Raise Concerns over Golan Heights Security, The Guardian, April 7, 2013. Available at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/07/syria-golan-heights-security, accessed September 13, 2013.

⁶⁸ Author conversations with residents, Majdal Shams, Occupied Golan, June 2013.

⁶⁹ Jägerskog, Why States Cooperate over Shared Water.