A Study of Environmental Peacebuilding in Israel and Palestine

Good Water Neighbors? A Study of Environmental Peacebuilding in Israel and Palestine by Inga Schierholz A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Peace and Conflict Studies University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © 2018 by Inga Schierholz Copyright © 2018 by Inga Schierholz A drawing on the wall at Sharhabil Bin Hassneh EcoPark, Jordan. Source: Personal image. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research project would not have been possible without the support and guidance from a great variety of people, including first and foremost my advisor, Dr. Dean Peachey, who has been a tremendous mentor and an unrelenting source of encouragement; Drs. Sean Byrne, Shirley Thompson, and Tami Jacoby, who have helped steer this thesis towards completion; the staff of EcoPeace Middle East, who never hesitated to offer their help and expertise throughout and beyond my internship; the many members of the organization, who graciously lent me their time and wisdom to form the heart of this thesis; my husband, Dayner, who has always been at my side and enabled me to carry on even during the most difficult times of this endeavor; my family, who has been supportive and loving even from a great distance; and my friends, far and near, who have been there for me when I needed to find inspiration, distraction, or just an open ear. I also wish to thank those that have generously supported this project financially, among them the Arthur V. Mauro Centre; St. Paul’s College; the Department of Political Studies; the Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources; and the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Manitoba; the University of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba; as well as Canadian Friends of Hebrew University, Winnipeg. i ii ABSTRACT Water scarcity, pollution, and unequal distribution add complexity to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In response, EcoPeace Middle East engages Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians in cross-border environmental cooperation while promoting dialogue and trust among members of all three societies. This study explores how EcoPeace fosters environmental peacebuilding between Israel and Palestine, looking specifically at what motivates Israelis and Palestinians to engage in cross-border cooperation, how their involvement in the organization affects their relationships, and the organization’s key challenges and strengths. The study relies on theories of water conflict and water cooperation, social cubism, and environmental and multi-track peacebuilding. Data was collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and critical auto-ethnography. The study found that by creating linkages between water and other sectors of society, the organization has been able to procure tangible results, and sustain limited dialogue and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians, even in the context of physical, legal, political, and psychological barriers. iii iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER II. CONTEXT 7 2.1 THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT 7 2.2 THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN WATER CONFLICT 10 2.3 WATER AND THE PEACE PROCESS 16 2.4 ECOPEACE MIDDLE EAST 18 CHAPTER III. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 23 3.1 THEORIES OF WATER CONFLICT AND COOPERATION 24 3.1.1 WATER CONFLICT 24 3.1.2 WATER COOPERATION 28 3.2 SOCIAL CUBISM AND THE WATER CONFLICT 31 3.3 ENVIRONMENTAL PEACEBUILDING AND THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY 38 3.3.1 PEACEBUILDING 38 3.3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE 40 3.3.3 THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY 41 3.4 SUMMARY OF THE MAIN THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 46 4.1 PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION 49 4.2 CRITICAL ETHNOGRAPHY 50 4.3 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS WITH STAFF MEMBERS AND BENEFICIARIES 50 4.4 DATA COLLECTION AND HANDLING 52 4.5 DATA ANALYSIS 53 4.6 ORIENTATION OF THE RESEARCHER 54 4.7 ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE 55 4.8 LIMITATIONS OF STUDY 55 v CHAPTER V. FINDINGS 57 5.1 THREE AREAS, ONE WALL, AND PARALLEL LAWS 57 5.1.1 GEOGRAPHICAL BARRIERS 59 5.1.2 LEGAL BARRIERS 66 5.1.3 CASE STUDY #1: CLEANING THE HEBRON-HABESOR-GAZA BASIN 68 5.2 MOTIVATIONS FOR COOPERATION 75 5.2.1 ENVIRONMENTAL AND POLITICAL STABILITY 76 5.2.2 WATER RIGHTS 82 5.2.3 CASE STUDY #2: STOPPING THE WALL IN BATTIR 87 5.3 ECONOMIC, ENERGY, AND TOURISM INCENTIVES 93 5.3.1 THE WATER-ENERGY-NEXUS (WEN) 93 5.3.2 ECONOMIC AND TOURISM OPPORTUNITIES 95 5.3.3 A DREAM FOR A PEACE ISLAND 98 5.4 ECOPEACE’S EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES 100 5.4.1 SCHOOL-BASED ACTIVITIES 101 5.4.2 FAITH-BASED ACTIVITIES 105 5.4.3 CASE STUDY #3: ECOPARK ALUMNI CAMP 106 5.5 ROADBLOCKS TO COOPERATION 121 5.5.1 ANTI-NORMALIZATION, ANTI-COOPERATION 121 5.5.2 ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS 128 CHAPTER VI. DISCUSSION 141 6.1 THE GENIUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PEACEBUILDING 141 6.2 MOTIVATIONS FOR COOPERATION 143 6.3 THE RIGHT TO WATER 144 6.4 IN-GROUP SOCIALIZATION 151 6.5 INTERGROUP SOCIAL COHESION 154 6.6 CHALLENGES: ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS 160 6.7 SUMMARY 162 6.8 FUTURE RESEARCH 163 vi CHAPTER VII. EPILOGUE 165 VIII. REFERENCES 169 IX. APPENDICES 183 10.1 APPENDIX I – INTERVIEW GUIDING QUESTIONS FOR ECOPEACE STAFF MEMBERS 183 10.2 APPENDIX II – INTERVIEW GUIDING QUESTIONS FOR ECOPEACE BENEFICIARIES 184 10.3 APPENDIX III – CONSENT FORM ECOPEACE STAFF MEMBERS 185 10.4 APPENDIX IV – CONSENT FORM ECOPEACE BENEFICIARIES 189 10.5 APPENDIX V – CONSENT FORM ECOPEACE BENEFICIARIES FOCUS GROUP 195 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: THE SIX FORCES OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN (WATER) CONFLICT 37 TABLE 2: FUNCTIONS OF ECOPEACE MIDDLE EAST AS A CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION 42 TABLE 3: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS 52 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: ISRAEL, PALESTINE, AND ITS NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES 8 FIGURE 2: THE SIX FORCES OF ETHNO-TERRITORIAL CONFLICTS 33 FIGURE 3: LEDERACH’S PYRAMID OF PEACEBUILDING 44 FIGURE 4: ECOPEACE’S FIVE-YEAR STRATEGY 2017-2021 45 FIGURE 5: SHARED WATERSHEDS OF ISRAEL, PALESTINE, AND JORDAN 63 FIGURE 6: THE JORDAN RIVER PEACE PARK 99 FIGURE 7: SOURCES OF POLLUTION IN THE WEST BANK 136 vii viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION More than two-thirds of our “Blue Planet” is covered by water, yet only a miniscule amount of it is accessible to humans and is suitable for drinking without prior treatment. Water, the substance of all life on earth, is abundant in some places and scarce in others. The Middle East and North African (MENA) region is one of the most water-stressed regions in the world. Approximately five percent of the world’s population have access to only one percent of earth’s freshwater resources. The region’s rivers, most of which are transboundary, provide two thirds of its freshwater supply, making it the highest rate of dependency on international basins in the world.1 Today, the total water demand in the MENA already exceeds naturally available water supplies by almost 20 percent.2 Several factors are putting this valuable source of humanity at additional risk. Our rapidly growing population exacts ever greater amounts of water; unsustainable environmental practices are polluting and overexploiting resources; and competition among water users is causing uneven resource distribution. Situated in the heart of the MENA, Israel and Palestine face issues of prolonged drought, pollution, and unequal distribution of water resources. Within this ecological context, the Israeli- Palestinian conflict adds an additional layer of complexity. Even though the conflict does not emanate from an ecological cause – its core revolves around one piece of land that is culturally, spiritually, and historically significant to two peoples – issues of water quantity and quality have long been a major area of contention between both peoples and continue to shape the dynamics of the conflict. 1 See The World Bank, “Making the most of scarcity: Accountability for better water management in the Middle East and North Africa” (report by The World Bank, Washington, 2007), 8. 2 See The World Bank, “The Grain Chain: Food Security and Managing Wheat Imports in Arab Countries” (report by The World Bank, 2012), as cited in Oded Eran, Gidon Bromberg, and Giulia Giordano, “Israeli Water Diplomacy and National Security Concerns” (EcoPeace Middle East and INSS, January 2018), 5. 1 The availability and control of water resources is imperative for the survival, sustenance, and development of Israel and Palestine. For a long time, scholars and politicians considered the issues of water quantity and quality a question of technological innovation, separate from the political conflict and answered primarily by engineers and scientists. Yet because the physical world of water is closely connected to the socio-political world, especially in contexts of protracted, ethnoterritorial conflicts like that between Israel and Palestine, water is entangled in a web of complex linkages of politics, power, and the overall sociopsychological characteristics of the conflict. In Israel and Palestine, issues of water, sanitation, and related environmental concerns have been a source of both conflict and cooperation. In the absence of a fair and effective water agreement between Israel and Palestine, both parties continue to vie over the resource in what they believe to be a zero-sum game. At the same time, growing awareness about the unsustainability of the current system has prompted regional civil society actors to take matters into their own hands. Realizing that a continuation of the status quo is bound to bring harm to all people of the region, environmentalists, peace practitioners, and concerned citizens have come together to promote fair and sustainable environmental practices to protect their shared resources. EcoPeace Middle East is one such example. As a non-governmental environmental organization, EcoPeace brings together Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians to promote cooperative efforts for protecting and rehabilitating transboundary resources and the shared environmental heritage of the Levant.

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