Water Wars in the Middle East: A Looming Threat Author(s): Hussein A. Amery Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 168, No. 4, Water Wars? Geographical Perspectives (Dec., 2002), pp. 313-323 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3451474 . Accessed: 17/08/2011 16:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Blackwell Publishing and The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal. http://www.jstor.org The GeographicalJournal, Vol. 168, No. 4, December 2002, pp. 313-323 Water wars in the Middle East: a looming threat HUSSEINA AMERY Division of LiberalArts and International Studies, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA E-mail:[email protected] This paper was accepted for publication in August 2002 This paper explains how hydropolitical dynamics and spatial variables almost triggered a water war between Israel and Lebanon because the latter was building a pump on the Wazzani Spring, a tributary of the Jordan River. The convergence of a regional drought, history of violent confrontations between the two riparians, distrust, varying develop- ment needs and territorial disputes almost culminated in a war between these east Mediterranean neighbours. While most international water disputes in the Middle East will be resolved peacefully, some are likely to trigger violent confrontations threatening political stability in the Middle East in the next few decades. KEYWORDS: Jordan River, Hasbani River, Wazzani Spring, Water War, water scarcity, drought, history, territorial disputes, Middle East Introduction widely accepted that resources and environmentalfactors - particularlythose associated with fresh water - play a but definite role in and even here is a growing discussion over the geo- tangled local, regional, international political consequences of protracted (as disputes Gleick(2000) opposed to temporary) water 'scarcity', which I refer to as 'stress'. One school of thought argues that resource scarcity triggers technological and This paper presents empirical evidence for Gleick's diplomatic innovations, not wars (Wolf 2000). claim by explaining the intricate hydropolitical Another school of thought argues that scarcity of dynamics that came close to triggering a water war critical resources such as water or oil would have between Israel and Lebanon because the latter was a on the Wazzani a a drag on the economy, and if the scarcity persists building pump spring, tributary of the River. The author that when for any length of time in resource-dependent Jordan argues countries reach the brink of a multitude of countries, social disruption and war are war, likely factors In this case a vola- (Ehrlich 1972; Gleick 2000). All conferences usually converge. study, major tile coalescence of decades of on the environment such as the 1977 Mar drought, dueling, global needs and territorial del and the 1992 Dublin confer- distrust, development disputes Plata, Argentina, almost culminated in an international war over a and Earth Rio de have ence, Summit, Janeiro, water diversion from an international watercourse. discussed the idea of the basic water requirement The emotionalism with which water is viewed (BWR) for humans and the ecosystem. BWR is now aggravates already volatile situations. widely accepted by international organizations, In an address given by the United Nations, national and local governments, and by water pro- Secretary-General to the Association of American viders. Lundqvist and Gleick (2000) argue that Geographers, Kofi Annan, said that environmentally unless people have access to their basic water needs, in order that they can grow their food and Unsustainable practices are woven deeply into the fabric live a healthy and hygienic lifestyle, ecological dis- of modern life. Land degradation threatens food security. ruption, population dislocation, 'large-scale human Forest destruction threatens biodiversity.Water pollution misery and suffering' will be the result. And this, threatens public health, and fierce competition for fresh they say, contributes 'to the risk of social and water may well become a source of conflict and wars military conflict' (Lundqvist and Gleick 2000). in the future.Environmental concerns are the national While most water disputes will have non-violent security issues of the future. resolutions, Gleick argues that it is now Annan (2001) 0016-7398/02/0004-0313/$00.20/0 /( 2002 The Royal Geographical Society 314 Water wars in the Middle East A Johns Hopkins University study reported that'... Plantation, Schiff (1996) states that the Israeli Prime there is [now] a growing risk that wars will Minister Shimon Peres 'has taken an aggressive be fought over access to freshwater supplies' stance on the water sources in the north, and on (Solutions for a water-short world 1998). This is their defense'. Peres, who is a co-recipient of a echoed by the Director-General of the UN Noble Prize for peace, is considered a dove in Environment Programme, Klaus Toepfer. He said: Israeli politics. Another analyst argues that ... because fresh water is becoming such a valu- able commodity, countries are likely to go to war The Golan's fertile farmland, generous water resources, over it' (EnvironmentalScience & Technology 1999). and strategic topography make it difficult,in the minds of Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State many Israelis,to give up this territory. during the presidency of Bill Clinton, said that Zunes (2002) 'Competition for scarce resources ... can still elevate tensions countries or cause ruinous among In leaders of violence within them' Times conclusion, global institutions, regional (Los Angeles 1997). and nation states the loom- She wrote that 'Unless water organizations accept properly addressed, threat of water wars. to this school of could become a source of conflict' ing According scarcity major over scarce water resources 2000). thought, competition (Albright results in a wide of In the Middle a member of the spectrum responses, ranging East, Egyptian resolution of the to Parliament said that his 'national from peaceful conflict, prolong- country's security state of between and should not be viewed in but ing the belligerency riparians only military terms, violent confrontation between them. In also in terms of wars over water' outright (El-Deen 1998). sometimes with violence if Meir Ben Israel's Water short, society responds Meir, Commissioner, pre- denied sufficient access to a vital dicts that water and thirst would people are protracted scarcity resource like water. 'doubtless' lead to war (Welsh 2000). Water scarcity in Palestinian villages was 'one of the reasons for the intifada in the territories' occupied National context of (Anderson 1991). According to Levy, around 150 hydropolitics Palestinian villages in the West Bank are currently In 1978, the Israeliarmy invaded southern Lebanon not hooked up to the water system, thus adversely and established the so-called 'security zone' with affecting the lives of some 215 000 people 'under the expressed goal of preventing guerilla attacks Israeli responsibility'. While Israelis use an average from Lebanon (Figure 1). In the years since 1978, of 348 litres of water per person per day (1/p/d), the area of this occupied zone expanded and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza use 70 contracted a few times. It was largest in 1982 (until I/p/d, well below the daily minimum of 100 I/p/d 1985) when Israel expanded its hold to control 45% set by the World Health Organization (Levy 2001). of Lebanon's area and smallest, around 9%, in This harsh reality had a tangled contribution to the 2000, the year Israel's army quit the area. Before root causes behind the Al Aqsa Intifada (uprising) of the security zone was occupied by the Israeli Palestinians under Israeli control. This violent con- army, it had around 300 000 residents. Only frontation between Israel and the Palestinians about 77 000 people stayed during the decades of started in the fall of 2000 and had not ended by the guerilla and civil wars. In 2001, one year after the summer of 2002. Israeli army abandoned southern Lebanon, about The role of water stress in violent confrontations 5000 had decided to return and rebuild their between states manifests itself frequently in pro- homes and fields that had been abandoned, evacu- longing positions of belligerency or official 'state of ated or destroyed during the Israeli occupation. war' between countries as was the case between In the first year after the liberation of the south, Israel and Syria during the 1990s. Ephraim Sneh, the central Lebanese government was busy inviting Israel's Deputy Defense Minister in Ehud Barak's investors from around the world to help in fund- government, said that his country is prepared to ing the rehabilitation of the southern villages. The make wide-ranging territorial'compromises' on the Council for Development and Reconstruction Golan Heights and 'All we want (from Syria) in (CDR) has been working to implement US$100 return is security and water' (Landau 2000). The million worth of projects funded by the Arab Fund late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin indicated to the and Kuwait Fund, of which US$50 million were Americans that he would consider a full withdrawal earmarked to provide drinking water networks for from the Golan Heights if his security and water the Jabal Amel, Bint Jbeil, Marjayoun and Hasbaya demands were met.