The Politics of Water in the Middle East: An Israeli Perspective on the Hydro-Political Aspects of the Conflict

174 Pages·1999·1.351 MB·English

by  Martin Sherman (auth.)

The Politics of Water in the
Middle East
An Israeli Perspective on the Hydro-Political
Aspects of the Conflict
Martin Sherman
THE POLITICS OF WATER IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Also by Martin Sherman and from the same publishers
DESPOTS,DEMOCRATSANDTHEDETERMINANTSOF
INTERNATIONALCONFLICT
The Politics of Water
in the Middle East
An Israeli Perspective on the
Hydro-Political Aspects of
the Conflict
Martin Sherman
Department of Political Science
University of Tel Aviv
Israel
First published in Great Britain 1999 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, HampshireRG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-40812-2 ISBN 978-0-333-98370-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-0-333-98370-6
First published in the United States of America 1999 by
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and ReferenceDivision,
175FifthAvenue,New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-21683-2
Library of CongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Sherman,Martin, 1947–
The politics of water in the MiddleEast : an Israeli
perspective on the hydro-political aspects of the conflict / Martin
Sherman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-21683-2 (cloth)
1.Water-supply—Political aspects—Israel. 2.Water resources
development—Political aspects—Israel. 3.Water-supply—Political
aspects—MiddleEast. 4.Water resources development—Political
aspects—MiddleEast. 5.Arab–Israeli conflict. I.Title.
HD1698.I75S53 1998
333.91'0095694—dc21 98–30267
CIP
©MartinSherman 1999
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1999 978-0-333-73483-4
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with
written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
PatentsAct 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by
theCopyrightLicensingAgency, 90 TottenhamCourtRoad,LondonW1P 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance
with the Copyright,Designs and PatentsAct 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99
Contents
List of Figures, Tables, Maps and Exhibits vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction xi
1 Water: a Vital and Scarce Strategic Resource 1
2 Supply and Demand for Water in Israel 7
3 The Dual Menace to Israel’s Water Resources:
Deteriorating Quantity and Quality 14
4 The Waters of the Mountain Aquifer: An Inevitable
Source of Conflict 20
5 The Kinneret: A Vital, Volatile and Vulnerable Water
Source 33
6 Middle Eastern Realities: Stable Geology and Volatile
Politics 42
7 Will Water Quench or Fuel the Flames of Animosity? 48
8 Arab Recriminations: Separating Fact from
Fabrication 58
9 Resolving Conflict over Water: Separating Fact from
Fantasy 67
10 The Hydro-Political Significance of the Oslo Accords
and ‘Peace Process’: Policy Options and Imperatives 93
Appendices
1: The Israeli–Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip, Annex III, Article II,
Appendix 1, Article 40, Water and Sewage 114
2: Treaty of Peace Between the State of Israel and the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 26 October 1994,
Article 6, Water 123
3: Text of Publications by Israeli Ministry of Agriculture
Relating to Hydro-Political Issues 128
v
vi Contents
Notes and References 135
Bibliography 149
Index 155
List of Figures, Maps,
Tables and Exhibits
Figures
A The conceptual structure of the book xiv
1.1(a) Non-agricultural water consumption (cum per
capita) 5
1.1(b) Annual domestic per capita water consumption 5
4.1 Schematic representation of the salinization process
in the Mountain Aquifer – I 22
4.2 Schematic representation of the salinization process
in the Mountain Aquifer – II 23
5.1 Average chloride concentration in the Kinneret
(Sea of Galilee) 40
7.1 Subterranean flow and discharge of Mountain
Aquifer 50
7.2 Saline intrusions underlying the Mountain
Aquifer 56
8.1 Arab and Jewish water sources in the Ouja area –
schematic representation 65
Maps
2.1 Major water sources of Israel 8
2.2 The National Water Carrier and some related
distribution systems 11
5.1 The Kinneret drainage area 35
5.2 Attempted Syrian diversion of Upper Jordan
sources 37
9.1 Proposed ‘Med–Dead’ and ‘Red–Dead’ canal
routes 69
9.2 Proposed ‘Peace Pipeline’ route 72
10.1 Approximate demarcation of vital hydrostrategic
areas as determined by the TAHAL Report 97
vii
viii List of Figures, Maps, Tables and Exhibits
Tables
4.1 The conflicting Israeli and Palestinian positions on
the water issue 27
8.1 Annual allocation of water to agriculture in
Israel (mcm) 62
8.2 Palestinian domestic water consumption
1966–79 63
9.1 GNP per capita in the Middle East 89
Exhibits
10.1 ‘Not a single drop’ – A’Thawra, 18.4.93 106
10.2 ‘Not a drop’ – Al Ahram, 23.5.92 107
Acknowledgements
I am greatly indebted to Shmuel Kantor and Yehoshua Schwartz for
the time and attention they devoted to me.
My thanks are also due to Menahem Kantor, Nurit Kliot, Arnon
Soffer and Dan Zaslavsky for their assistance and counsel. I should
also like to express my gratitude to Barry Brisman, Lesley Terris and
Keith Povey for their valuable advice in the proof reading and editing
of this volume.
MARTINSHERMAN
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