Hydrostrategic Decisionmaking and the Arab ... - Yale University

WOLF 227The Zionist PositionThe Zionists began to formulate their desired boundaries for the“national home” to be determined by three criteria: historic, strategic,and economic considerations (Zionist publications cited inRa’anan 1955).The Jews’ historic concerns coincided roughly with British allusionsto the biblical “Dan to Beersheba” area. The Zionists articulated minimumrequirements which had to be supplemented with territory allowingmilitary and economic security. Military security required desertareas to the south and east as well as the Beka’a Valley, a gateway in thenorth between the Lebanon Mountains and Mount Hermon.Economic security was defined by water resources. The entireZionist program of immigration and settlement required water forlarge-scale irrigation and, in a land with no fossil fuels, for hydropower.The plans were “completely dependent” on the acquisition ofthe “headwaters of the Jordan, the Litani River, the snows of Hermon,the Yarmuk and its tributaries, and the Jabbok” (Ra’anan 1955).In a flurry of communication between world Zionist leaders, theaspects of historic, strategic, and economic security became increasinglylinked with the Jordan headwaters.The guiding force on the boundary position of the Jewish sidewas Aaron Aaronson. In charge of an agricultural experimentalstation at Atlit on the Mediterranean coast, Aaronson’s researchfocused on weather-resistant crops and dry-farming techniques.Convinced that the modern agricultural practices which would fuelJewish immigration were incompatible with “the slothful, brutishOttoman regime” (Sachar 1979), he concluded that Zionist settlementobjectives required alliance with the incoming Allied Forces.Aaronson initiated contact with the British to establish a Jewish spynetwork in Palestine, which would report on Turkish positions andtroop movements. Perhaps because of his training both in agricultureand in security matters, Aaronson became the first to argue forboundary delineation based specifically on future water needs.Aaronson’s “The Boundaries of Palestine” (January 27, 1919, unpublished,Zionist Archives), drafted in less than a day, argued that,Economic security was defined by waterresources. The entire Zionist programof immigration and settlement requiredwater for large-scale irrigation and, in aland with no fossil fuels, for hydropower.The plans were “completelydependent” on the acquisition of the“headwaters of the Jordan, the LitaniRiver, the snows of Hermon, theYarmuk and its tributaries, and theJabbok”.in Palestine, like in any other country of arid and semiaridcharacter, animal and plant life and, therefore, thewhole economic life directly depends on the availablewater supply. It is, therefore, of vital importance not onlyto secure all water resources already feeding the country,but also to insure the possession of whatever can conserveand increase these water—and eventually power—resources.The main resources of Palestine come from theYALE F&ES BULLETIN