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| Volume X, Winter 2003, Number 4 |
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| EXCERPT: Water: Israeli Strategy, Implications for Peace and the Viability of Palestine |
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| Harald D. Frederiksen |
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Mr. Frederiksen, former head for two regions of the World Bank's Water Resources Unit, is a private consultant in water-resources management.
There are several reasons why some residents of the Middle East feel hopeless. The loss of their historic water supplies is one fundamental cause, the greater Jordan River basin being the scene of greatest despair. The area comprising Palestine, Israel, Jordan and adjacent portions of Syria and Lebanon has always struggled with water shortages. Wells, springs and surface flows have long been tapped to supply irrigation and village demands in the more rugged areas and cities and agriculture in the valleys and coastal areas. A moderate amount of Jordan River water flowed unused to the Dead Sea and a small quantity of groundwater was lost to the Mediterranean. Regional analyses in the 1930s through the 1950s found there would be severe water shortages without regional population control. In 1953, the United States offered the Johnston Plan for allocating the Jordan River water as part of addressing the larger issues of partition. It was evident that further immigration would aggravate the situation. Indeed, persistent shortages commenced in the early 1970s.
In excess of 90 percent of all natural flow in the Jordan River system originates from Mount Hermon, lying within Lebanon and Syria. The Jordan River basin is an international resource for five countries: Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the West Bank occupied territories. Palestine's Coastal Aquifers serve Israel and Gaza. The Mountain Aquifer of Palestine, with a portion of its Western and all of its Eastern sub-units lying under the West Bank occupied lands, also serves two countries. The Western sub-unit serves Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. The Eastern sub-unit, by far the largest, had numerous springs -- before current over-pumping -- contributing to the Jordan River. By their nature, all of the water resources of historical Palestine except northern portions of the Coastal Aquifer are international waters. Those aquifers within a basin are part of that basin's resources. Israel also has sole access to the extensive aquifer underlying the Negev, holding a volume of water equal to 120 to 250 years' safe yield of the Mountain Aquifer. And Israel has ready access to the Mediterranean for desalination plants to serve its urban centers. [The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. 202, No. 4, October 2002, presents more current data on the Israeli/Palestinian water situation.]
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