f\o t! .* :: "h*-"F*. l: a $* $ WI 4 .t' THE RIVER * JORDAN {+1 t.{ t* !d. J tl & I J E* It & INTRODIiCTION { it /4 & CI resources is one of tlle Itlost cltrracleristic features o[ the f iSao*a,r" of waler x the. Palestine li{andate entrusted to Britain $ t*rrain that wh to constitute the area of r, rltcr \Vorld War I. Rain falls only in the short winter, leaving a long dry summer when T countries to the north tt qricultuie depends entirely orr irrigation. The neighbouring t :. have abundant resources for irrigation, Syria sharin! the Euplrrates with {*iri} and rhe s pu1.51ins rr/as -€ A"r,* *iti, Lebanbrt, and l.ebanon endole.J, besides, with t]re Litani- I to be dependent 'almost entirel.v on the exigtrcus Jordan. Tiierefo:e, when lhe rt * boundaries of Palestine werc to be setticci aftcr lYarld War l, Britaiu' as the prcspective 5 ll:ndatory Power, and the Zionist Organizati,:n representing'the nascent Jewish * Igfonal Home, demanded that the Jordan and all its iribuiaries be includeC in their Palcstine and tlr-at tl-re Litani demarcate Palestine's northern * iniiiety in the territory of { fruntier. But, at French insistence, Paiestine's no:thern bor:ndary with Lebanon and * Syria, both placed under French l{andate, was set southof the Litani andle.stof {t' 3.: ilennon, sO that three of the four ntain tributaries of the Jordan - the Hasbani' the Baaias and the Yarmuk -. were to originate in French-Mandated territories, and the Urani would become a Lebanese nationai river. The matter was furlher aggravatcd *ten Transjordan, containing a considerable section of the Yarmuk ;iver, was separ- ated from Westem Palestine. Water, next to soil, was ihe most important cornrnodity, a decisive factor determin- ing the future development and absorptive capacity of Palestine. In the beginning of &e 1940's, the Jewish Agency eniisted the cooperation of outstaqding experts to advise it on a compreheniiue plan for the development of the country's water Ie- sourccs, the most distinguished among them the great American soil-conservationist ard hyrlrologist, Walter i" Lowdersilk. In his book, Pclesr ine Lutd af Promise {1944),, Valley Arrthority, on the Pat]e-r'l Lnwdermilk suglested the establishment of a Jordan , of the Tennet*J. Vott"y Authority, for the purpose of utilizing the deep incline of the i ' Iordan ,River to generate power, diverting the sweet waters of the Uqper Jordan, the Yarmuk and Zerqa in canals and conduits to arable and irrigable lands along the Jordan ' 461 Valley and in the Negev, and introducing sea-water from the Mediterranean to the I}e B'not Yaal Valley to compensate the Dead Sea for the loss of intake that would be due to diversion of Jordan water for irrigation and additional generation of power. Lowder. {)n 2 Septearbr milk estimated that the adoption of his plan would make possible the absorption of the constructio four million newcomers. The American engineer, James B. Flays, in his plan ("TVA on l'gakov Bridge the Jordan, Proposals for lrrigation and Hydro-Electric Development in Patestine", from where a I 1948), elaborated the basiE ideas of tire Lowdermilk plan. north-wssfsnt 6 With the establishment of the State of Israel, the changed border alignment, masseg JSGmetre drop of immigrants pouring in, the need for a national water development scheme and its rnd to pump u speedy execution becarne eyer more pressing. A Water Department was formed within South. the Ministry of Agriculture to draw up the scheme, a task subsequently taken over by Syria protest armistice Tahal (Water-Plannirrg for Israel), a corporation set up and owned by the Governmenl _the agrr in partnership with the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund. The fint t\rnnereth would national plan, called the Seven-Year Plan and worked out by Israeli experts and foreign Sraff of the Unir consultants, was presented in 1952 (Document l). In many respects, it was based on Bennike, ordered the earlier Lowdermilk and Hays proposals. It aimed at integrating all resources in a rerched. Israel ot single, colnprehensive country-wide system and distributing the water to the places work on the Hul pressure where it was wanted. A substantial portion of the total available water was to be by the : carried from the relatively rich northern part of lsrael to the barren Negev, which economic aid to, constitutes sixty percent of the area of Israei. Utilization of the deep declivity of thc the end" A Frenclr Jordan Valley to generate power, and digging of a canal from the Mediterranean to the was accepted by tl Jordan Valley, were parts of the design. deUberations of th In the meantime the Kingdom of Jordan had been developing water plans of its draft was proposer own. In 1949, lordan engaged the British firm of Sir Murdoch MacDonald to re- authorizing the Ctr examine earlier surveys and reconrmendations for irrigation in the Jordan Valley. The Syrian interests (S British firm, in its study, assumed that Lake Kinnereth should serve as a resen'oir for Union on 22 lanua right surplus water from the Yarmuk River and that canals be drarvn from the Lake to of veto to Dr precedentwould irrigate both sides of the Jordan Valley. be The MacDonald Plan was folldwed in 1952 by a different project prepared by the conflict. Resolution Jordanian Covernment in conjunction with the US Technical Cooperation Agency the prornised ..urser (Point IV). It became known as tlie Bunger Plan. This plan proposed to store the the issue became i. Yarmuk River waten in a relatively large and costly dam at Makaren to serve{ordan and Sy1i3. During these years, prospects for water development also ingaged the attention of The Johnston Negoti UN bodies concerned with the ]l{iddle East. In 1949. the Palestine Conciliation Com' Valley But, while mission asked Gordon Clapp, Chairman of the Board of the Tennessee Author' the issue r tresh ity (TVA) to lead an economic survey mission to the Middle East to examine, amonS initiative devel< gestions other things, irrigation needs and water schemes. expressed alr iliddle In 1952. the United Nations Relief and Works Agency contracted with the TVA East in the sp for a review and anall,sis of past and existing proposals for utilization of the Jorden lor the utilization il the US contribution River, especially in the Kingdom of Jortian. (TVA in turn assigned tlte survey to to the s< firm of Charles T. Main.) israel. He appointed f the Israel was ready to co-ordinate its plans with the projects of its neighbours, but the Technical Coooer pra rank Arab States rel'used to deal or eyen meet with Israeli representatives. So Israel to consult wit'tr t, tn ceeded with plans for its own needs, bearing in mind the interests of its neighboun. October 1953 and 468 '.i t::: \ +i],:t ilri " e i{editerranean to the lfre B'not Yaakov Project that would be due to tion of power. Lowder- 2 september on 1953, Israel began work on , tyaro-"t*"tric project as a first stage in ssible the absorption of the construction of a south-bound water conduit. The starting point was near Blnot 's, in his plan (..TVA (Jisr on Yaakov Bridge Banat Ya'qub, Daughters of Jacob Bridge-), south of Lake Hula, in Palestine", 'lopment frorn where a l3-kilometreJong diversionary canal was to be built to a pointnearthe north-western corner of Lake Kinnereth, where a power station was to utilize the r aliSnrnent, masses 28Gmetre drop of the Jordan from the bridge to Lake Kinnereth to. generate po*.i sclreme pump and its and to water into a diversionary scheme leading from Lower Calilee to the ent rvas fornled within South. uently taken Syria protested over hv to the United Naticns, claiming, inter alio, that Israel was violating I by the Gorernme,rt the armistice agreement because the projected canal from B'noi Yaakov Bridge to LakJ ional Fund. The first Kinnereth would pass through demilitarized zones. On 23 September, ttre Cfrlef of eli experts ancl foreigl Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organizatiotr (UNTSO), General Vagn pects, wat Bennike, it based on ordered Israel to suspend work until agreement on its continuation was :tring all resourccs reached' Israel in a objected, basing itself on General Riley's ultimate decision to approve I \\'atet to the places work on the Hula plan two years earrier (see section v, subsection 6), but, under able water was pfgssure to be by the Powers * the united states giving waming that it would suspend barren Negev, which economic aid to Israel until compliance with General Bennike's order gave way in deep declivity - of the the end. A French-sponsorecl Resolution promising urgent consideration of thc matter l\fediterranean to *'as accepted the by the Security council on 2T october 1953 (s/312g, Docunrent 2)- The deliberations of the Council dragged on for several months, and finally a compromise ng water plans draft of its was proposed by France, the unired Kingdom and the United sirt., urtine uij h l{asDonald authorizing to re- tlie Chief of Staff to explore the possigilities of reconciling the Israeli and Jordan Valley. Syrian l}le interests (S/3 l5l, Document 5). The Resolution was vetoed bv the Sovietr &s a reserv'oir for union on 22lanuary 1954. This was the first time that the soviet ur* rr"a-r;;;;;l n from the right Lake to 9f veto to prevent the adoption of a decision not agreeable to tire A;.br;;; precedent would be followed thereafter in all questions that touched on ,t, U''A ect prepared errUir*.ll by the conflict.