Water Crisis reemerges in the Public Eye
July 22, 2009, posted by Noam Shelef
This post was written by APN Intern Elizabeth Goldstein
The issue of water in Israel may be back in the public conscience. Last week, New York Times op-ed contributor Stanley Weiss wrote about the effect that water crises have had, or could have on the political climate of the region. Such news is not often reported on, but Israel’s problem with water and the heavy effect the issue may have on the Arab-Israeli conflict is not one that should be disregarded. Amidst all the talk about a settlement freeze and the occasional reminders that the blockade on Gaza is ongoing, I offer a reminder that this issue also deserves attention.
Background information you might find helpful: Israel controls 36 underground aquifers within the West Bank, and consumes, per capita, about 300 liters of water a day. Palestinian per capita consumption of 35-80 liters a day falls far below the standard established by the World Health Organization (WHO), i.e., a minimum of 100 liters a day. To help put these numbers in perspective: the American per capita consumption of water is 400 liters a day, where the cost to water providers is much lower and availability is much higher, than in Israel.
The water issue reappears in the public discourse occasionally. In the 1990’s, water rights were a tricky point of contention during the Oslo peace talks. In 2003, Al-Jazeera ran two different articles within a month of one another reporting on the different faces of resource conflict, one on the lack of water particularly in Gaza and another on the settlers’ usurpation of water in the West Bank. In 2007, BBC published an article briefly summing up the history of the water conflict starting from 1967, and possibilities for the future. In 2008, Israeli and Palestinian officials held informal talks specifically on water rights and equality. All seem to agree on the need for a joint water sharing plan. But talks to achieve the goal have been held hostage to the lack of progress on the other final status issues.
The recent op-ed piece in the NY Times was not just about the water conflict between Israel and Palestine, but about how a successful water sharing plan could be the path to peace for Israel and its neighbors. Weiss suggests a multi-national pact, run by the U.S. and Turkey (the Middle Eastern country with the greatest water supply). Turkey has offered its water in the past; execution of the plan simply requires the rest of the region to agree. The water carrier would likely go through Syria and Lebanon – distributing water to them as well – on the way to Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories.
Water is a natural resource vital to all human life. Lack of availability or accessibility could possibly be dangerous. We may not be able to take on all the different issues within the conflict at once, but nor should we disregard any. While we keep watch on the settlements and continue to support President Obama’s call to freeze settlement activity, we also remain aware of the complex challenges that water poses throughout the region.
One of the main reasons that the Turkey water solution is unlikely to materialize anytime soon is due to the historically ingrained lack of trust among the region’s countries. In order to implement such an option, the nations of the Middle East would have to become comfortable being dependent on Turkey having ultimate control over an indispensible resource. Iraq’s and Syria’s ongoing water relations with Turkey suggest anything but comfort with Turkey’s management of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Additionally, given the route of the proposed water carrier, some nations would also have to be reliant on the amiability of countries in whose territory the carrier would run. A truly Herculean effort would be required to convince these countries to place their life, their peoples’ lives, in the hands of a neighboring country, especially one that may not be very friendly.
You can read more of my thoughts on Stanley Weiss’s NYT OpEd at: http://www.InternationalWaterLaw.org/blog.
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