The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security - Unu-inweh ...

Following on this, during a personal conversation between the author of this paper (Dr. Walid Saleh) and Dr. Sally Toma,
member of the executive Egyptian Revolution Youth Council, she stated that “45 [members] of the Revelation Youth
Council visited Ethiopia to discuss the Nile water issue and were informed by Ethiopian government officials that they will
not act unilaterally until a proper government is installed in Egypt” (Toma, 2012). She went on to say that the Ethiopian
Government officials revealed to the Egyptian delegates that the problems with the previous regime in Egypt stemmed
from the authoritarian attitude and the language of power and threats. They indicated that these were major obstacles
to reaching an agreement over the sharing of the Nile waters. The recent creation of South Sudan has now added to
the complexity of the situation. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a regional vision to avert any future conflicts in
the region. It must be stressed that all countries in the Nile River basin have shown restraint and acted in a responsible
manner during a very difficult transition period during the post-colonial era.
4.2. The Jordan River basin and Palestinian aquifers: Towards equity of access and allocation
In addressing potential solutions for chronic issues over Middle Eastern waters, one might be inclined to think that the
problems might be solved through regional cooperation or by applying modern management approaches. However, the
water problems that exist in the Middle East are not just water scarcity problems, but are political issues that have been
and continue to be used as strategic weapons. This is true in the case of the water conflicts between Israel and Palestine,
and Israel and Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, respectively. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, there has been conflict
over the Jordan River basin. In fact, the 1967 Arab-Israeli war was fought not only over territories, but also over the control
of water bodies of the River Jordan and its tributaries. When the Golan Heights were seized by Israel, all the headwaters
of the Jordan River and a large stretch of the Yarmouk River consequently came under its control. The occupation of
the West Bank also gave control of the lower Jordan River basin to Israel. The 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the
creation of the ‘security zone’ in the south gave Israel greater control of the Jordan and Litani rivers. The disagreement
over water has been a serious stumbling block in the present ongoing negotiations between Israel and Syria, and Israel and
the Palestinians. The Israeli failure to honour a water sharing agreement with Jordan has also been a source of tension.
Furthermore, the Israeli mining of the underground Palestinian aquifers and the denial to the Palestinians of this water
can be seen as a war tactic used by the Israeli to drive the Palestinians out of their land. In addition to the mining of the
waters, the Israeli are directly polluting the underground waters under Palestinian control by releasing raw wastewater
from the illegally-built settlements in the West Bank (Lendman, 2009). In fact, Israeli scientists have recently warned that
polluting Palestinian groundwater will not only directly destroy the aquifers under Palestinian control, but that it will also
eventually pollute the Palestinian aquifers under Israeli control. Israeli scientists are calling upon their government to stop
these immoral, illegal, and inhuman practices.
A recent report from the French Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee entitled The Geopolitics of Water, concluding
on the work of a fact-finding mission from October 2010, accused Israel of implementing “apartheid” policies in its
allocation of water resources in the West Bank (Glavany, 2010: 19). Glavany asserts that water has become “a weapon
serving the new apartheid” (Glavany, 2010: 19), with examples and statistics to back up these claims. The report states
that “[s]ome 450,000 Israeli settlers on the West Bank use more water than the 2.3 million Palestinians that live there”
and “[i]n times of drought, in contravention of international law, the settlers get priority for water” (Glavany, 2010: 19).
Through these examples, the report highlights the unfair allocation of water to West Bank Palestinians and the fact that
Palestinians have no access to the territory’s underground aquifers (Glavany, 2010). Glavany further states that “Israel’s
territorial expansion is seen as a ‘water occupation’ of both streams and aquifers [...] the separation wall being built by
Israel allows it to control access to underground water sources… [and to] direct the flow of water westward” (Glavany,
2010: 17-20). The findings from the Glavany report underline the need for the attainment of equity and justice in terms
of water access and allocation as paramount to resolving this ongoing conflict. Without equitable and just allocation of
water resources, there can be no real conflict resolution.
4.3. The Euphrates and Tigris river basins
Syria and Iraq, as the downstream countries of the Euphrates River, are affected by the construction of the Turkish GAP
project. It is estimated that because of the GAP project, Syria and Iraq have seen 40% and 80% reduction, respectively, of
their equitable shares of the river water. The impacts are already strongly felt by the Iraqis and have had drastic effects
on the country’s food security, demonstrated by the fact that many farmers have abandoned their farms. In addition,
Water and Political Security: Conflict in West Asia and North Africa
Part 1
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