Water conflict in the Middle East
In order to start discussing on the conflict of water between Israel and its Arab neighbours in the Middle East we have to start way back to the history of the six -day war in 1967.
SIX-DAY WAR
The conflict between water can be illustrated by the 1967 six day war between Israel, Jordan and Syria. The three elements that caused this severe war to take place is : the capture of the Israelis of the Golan Heights from Syria and the West Bank from Jordan and the bombing of the dam that was constructed by Jordan on the River Yarmuk .
So what brings up the conflict ?
The main causes of the conflict that started decades ago happened during the six day war when Israel took the West Bank from Jordan, which was the where the mountain aquifer was situated. The mountain aquifer was so important as it was the main source of water for the Israelis and as well as the people living in West Bank. Secondly, Israel also captured the Golan Heights from Syria, where its source was the Anti-Lebanon Mountain, providing water to the Sea of Galilee. Lastly, Israel also bombed the dam that was built by Jordan on River Yarmuk during the 1967. From the above actions that the Israel did to its neighbouring countries this caused conflicts over water that still continues now .
The Golan Heights
The Jordan River Basin has five main component where the upper basin provides at least two thirds of the total running water into the Lake of Terberias ( Sea of Galilee). Since 1967, Lake Terberias had been an important source of water for the national water carrier that runs to the two main cities in Israel: Jerusalem and Tel-aviv for irrigation for agricultural products. Due to the fact that Golan Heights was in Syria and is the main source of the Lake of Terberias. In order to secure water running to the Lake of Terberias, Israel invaded Syria in 1967.
The River Yarmuk
River Yarmuk lies in Syria and Jordan, giving the largest input of water to River Jordan which was an important source of irrigation water used by the Israelis. Therefore, building a dam on the River Yarmuk will threaten the supply. Hence, Israel bombed the dam that was built in 1967 and opposed any further construction and made an Israel-Jordan peace agreement in the 1994 , allowing Jordan to abstract a certain amount of water each year from the River.
The West Bank
By 1960s, the groundwater source under the mountain aquifer in the West Bank became an major sources for the main cities : Jerusalem and the expanding coastal settlements. However, the West Bank , which was within Jordan , was home to Palestinian communities who were sinking wells. Therefore, in 1967, Israel started to secure water in the West Bank by setting permits for sinking wells as well as involving military controls on the important hills.
Conflict between Israel and Palestinians
Inequalities
Since Israel was taking control of the water sources and securing water for their own use this caused many conflicts between countries as well as communities especially with the Palestinians.
West Bank
After 1967, Israel established a number of settlements in the West Bank and the Palestinian population was banned from sinking further well, however, only 13 permits was given out from 1967 to 1996 . Apart from the River Jordan the mountain aquifer that lies in the West Bank is also the main source of water for Israel and the communities in the West Bank. 80% of the mountain aquifer is used by Israel where only 20 % is used by Palestinians which have a larger population compared to Israel. In 1995, Israel was pumping 600 million m3/yr , which was 30%of the country’s total demand. At least, 30 million m3 went to the 130 000 Israelis in the West Bank ( 230m3/person) and 115 million m3 went to the 1.4 million local Arabs ( 83m3/person). While the rest went to Jewish cities such as Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. From this we can see there is an unequal distribution between water distribution of the Palestinians and the Israelis.This led to a dispute between the Palestinians and the Jewish communities, and has been a crucial issue in the struggle to establish a Palestinian State.
Israel controls all the water that flows in the West back by the followings:
- Turning water pipes that runs to the Palestinian community off when they want to, to ensure that they don’t overuse their water.
- Palestinians are not permitted to sink any wells without consent.
- they also take 80% of their water
- 26% of Palestinian homes have no running water
This wasn’t fair to the Palestinians since Israel exploit their water e.g for irrigations growing exotic plants in the desert and building huge swimming pools in the middle of the desert while the Palestinians cannot irrigate their own crop and had to buy water from Israel when the pipes are turned off.
Life in the Gaza Strip
Gaza strip was originally occupied by Egypt, however, the coastal territory was captured by Israel during the 1967 war. When Hama took over in Gaza, Israel imposed a blockade on the territory, restricting the movement of goods in and out. The borders around Gaza is heavily monitored by the Israel militaries controlling the borders, with high stone walls separating. Since exports and imports are restricted people in the Gaza built smuggling tunnels to Egypt. Restrictions on the freedom of movement of the people severe, farming are limited by security zones and fishermen are restricted. Wars between the Palestinians and the Israelis still happens now.
According to the world health organisation’s recommended daily water consumption per capita is 100 litres. From the bar charts above we can see that the daily consumption of water from Israel is way over 100 litres while the Palestinians in the West Bank is only 73 litres per capita. Whereas the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip consume more water approximately 90 litres per capita ,however, there water are too salty for healthy consumption as their source was only imported water or from the coastal aquifer.
Due to the over extraction of water over the years, the groundwater of the coastal aquifer have been depleted with salt encroachment causing salty water that are unsafe for healthy drinking. Since they could not get water from the Israel national water carries diseases are being spread inside the Gaza Strip.
Strategies that Israel adopted to secure water demand
- 1995 peace agreement between Jordan and Israel
- Israel and Jordan have agreed on allocations of water from Jordan and the Yarmuk Rivers where Israel has agreed to transfer to Jordan 50 million cubic meters of water each year through diverting water, building new dams and desalinisation plants.
- In 2002, Israel approved the building of 4 desalinisation plant to satisfy their own demand as well as honouring their agreement.
- Furthermore, by importing more irrigated crops this can reduce the irrigated crops grown in their own country securing their own water demand as well as the peace agreement
- 1993 Oslo Agreement
- Oslo agreement is a peace agreement that were introduced between Israel and Palestinians, however, the treaty was insufficient and failed.
- Therefore, they introduced a new peace agreement in 1995 “ Oslo 2”. Israel agreed to deliver an additional 28.6 million water to the Palestinians, however, Israel only released 7 mcm of additional water which is a one over fourth of the water they agreed.
Methods used that helped Israel to secure their water
– Diverting water/canals
– reducing agricultural products
– Importing water
– Charging more on water
– Importing more food and growing less citrus in Israel
– Promoting water conservation
– Replenish the Dead Sea by building canals from the Red Sea
All the above strategies that the Israel adopted helped them to conserve and import water
Due to the problems that Israel have from population growth and the improvements in the quality of life this causes a great desire to the water lawns and gardens. A large proportion of Israel’s water, receives heavily subsidised water rates which is an incentive for farmers to use more water. Therefore, they are encouraging famers to used less water and decrease the amount of irrigated crops.
Israel will also launch a conservation campaign, targeting mostly household use where they have recently reduced 50% of the drinking water supply to the farmers, and increasing the use of recycled water.
Desalinisation Plant
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