[Dryerase] The Alarm!--H2O: Water Conflict in the Middle East

[The Alarm!Newswire]

Water conflict in the Mideast

By sasha k
The Alarm! Newspaper Contributor	

For the first time in a decade the Palestinian leadership has said that 
they may be forced to “re-evaluate” the two-state solution for the 
Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  According to a document given last week 
to US officials by Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayad, “Israel’s 
ultimate goal is to permit a Palestinian ‘state’ which would be in 
effect the Middle Eastern equivalent of a Native American Indian 
reservation.”

Since the 1967 Mideast War, Israel has continually expanded the 
settlement of lands expropriated from Palestinians.  But it is not just 
the seizure of land that is derailing Mideast peace: the document also 
stressed that Israeli control of water resources necessary for a viable 
Palestinian economy was a serious source of conflict.

Conflicts over water have been around for centuries, yet because of the 
combination of a growing world population, increasing pollution and the 
technological ability to drill deep wells the world is rapidly 
incurring what Lester Brown calls “a vast water deficit.”  Worldwide 
water demand has tripled over the last 50 years, and water tables are 
dropping fast.

In Yemen, for example, the water table is falling by around two meters 
a year.  The water table at the capital, Sana’a, is falling even 
faster—-six meters a year—-and is likely to run dry within a decade. 
According to the UN, at our present rate of water consumption more than 
2.7 billion people will be severely short of water by the year 2025, 
and another 2.5 billion people will live in regions where the water 
supply will not meet human needs. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan 
stated on World Water Day (March 22), “Fierce national competition over 
water resources has prompted fears that water issues contain the seeds 
of violent conflict.”

The Mideast and Africa, already unstable regions, are seen as the most 
likely sites for water wars in the coming century.  According to a 
report of the UN Development Programme, the main conflicts in Africa in 
the next 25 years will likely be over water.  Within 25 years, one in 
two Africans will be living in regions with not enough water for daily 
needs. The Nile River, which now arrives at the Mediterranean as a 
trickle, is one site of conflict.  Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan all take 
their cut of the Nile’s finite resource, and with the population 
explosion in the region set to add another 100 million people by the 
year 2025, conflict over Nile water is highly possible.

The Southeast Anatolia Project, in which Turkey is diverting huge 
amounts of water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is already 
causing conflict between Turkey and downstream countries Syria and 
Iraq.  Turkey hopes the project will bring 1.7 million hectares of new 
land under cultivation and double the county’s electricity production.  
When the Ataturk Dam over the Euphrates was flooded in 1990, Turkey cut 
off the flow of the river completely for three weeks, causing blackouts 
in Syria.  Syria has also dammed the Euphrates further down the river.  
In 1975, when the two countries began building their dams, Syria, 
Turkey and Iraq almost went to war.

The highest current level of water conflict, however, is occurring 
around Israel.  Ever since the Israeli state came into existence, the 
unilateral expropriation of water sources has been a central defense 
strategy.  Since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and 
the Golan Heights, Israel has commanded control over much of the water 
resources in the region.

In 1965, Syria attempted to build dams in the Golan Heights, 
threatening to divert 35% of the water Israel could take from the Upper 
Jordan.  Israel reacted by bombing the building sites.  In 1967, Israel 
invaded and occupied the Golan Heights, and control over the region’s 
water is still a key issue blocking peace between Israel and Syria.

The Jordan River, which flows between Jordan and Israel and the West 
Bank then into the Dead Sea, has been another source of conflict.  Very 
little water from the Jordan ever reaches the Dead Sea, the height of 
which is falling by one meter a year.  Recently, however, Jordan agreed 
to an Israeli plan to pipe water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.  Yet 
the Palestinians see this as a rewriting of their border with Jordan.  
Many other Arab countries have criticized Jordan for the plan.

After the 1967 war, water resources in the Palestinian occupied 
territories were no longer considered property of the inhabitants of 
the region, and instead were transferred to the Israeli Civil 
Administration.  Israeli military commanders became responsible for 
existing and new water installations.  Meters were placed on 
Palestinian wells and water usage was limited.  In 1982, control over 
water was shifted to the Israeli water company, Mekorot.  New 
Palestinian water installations were almost always refused, while 
Israeli settlers were given the right to dig deep wells, causing older 
Palestinian wells to dry up.

In effect, Israel has been shifting its water shortage onto the 
Palestinians, crippling their agricultural economy and making daily 
life harsh.  The two main aquifers under Gaza and the West Bank have 
been dropping fast, and the Gaza aquifer—the only source for drinking 
water for Gaza Palestinians—is becoming saline, with 80% of its water 
now unsuitable for human consumption.

In recent weeks, Lebanon and Israel have come into conflict over water 
from the Hasbani and Wazzani rivers, which flow into the Jordan.  
Lebanon has begun work on diverting a small amount of water from the 
Wazzani to agricultural villages in Southern Lebanon.  Yet the Israeli 
defense minister, Binyamin Ben Eliezer, said his country would not 
allow Lebanon to divert any water from the river, which provides ten 
percent of Israeli water.  And Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 
called Lebanon’s planned diversion a cause for war.

The militant group Hezbollah stated it would resist the Israeli 
military with force if they tried to stop the project.  Many Lebanese 
find it ironic that Israel is so adamant about the dispute; during its 
22-year occupation of Southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000, Israel 
exploited the river’s water to irrigate its own land, leaving many 
Lebanese villages parched.  The US has jumped to mediate the dispute, 
fearing that an Arab-Israeli war over water could jeopardize its 
planned war in Iraq.

Southern Lebanon is one of the few places Israeli water strategy has 
not worked out.  Yet, with the US entering to mediate, it is quite 
possible Israel will be able to minimize the water lost to Lebanon.  
However, water conflicts will surely increase in the future, and 
Israel’s unilateral military solution to the problem of scarce water 
resources is unlikely to go unchallenged.

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