Water in the Middle East: Potential for Conflicts and Prospects for Cooperation

Waltina Scheumann, Manuel Schiffler (eds.)

ISBN 10: 3540640290 / ISBN 13: 9783540640295

Published by Springer, 1998

About this Item

x, 190 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. Summary:In the 1980s, scientists, politicians and journalists frequently emphasized, particularly on the Jordan, Euphrates and Nile Rivers, that conflicts over shared water resources would lead to "water wars". A closer analysis shows that non-water issues have played the major role when conflicts in the region became heated, with the water issue being politically implemented. However, the unregulated and unequitable access to international rivers and the unilateral development of irrigated agriculture add to already high political tensions. The authors reveal that multilateral agreements over shared waters are a realistic option even in politically strained situations, if the expected costs of non-agreement are perceived as too high. If cooperation is beneficial to all Middle East nation states, it is easier to shift from overemphasis on national sovereignty to the concept of restricted national sovereignty and integrity which corresponds to international law. Contents: Introduction / Waltina Scheumann and Manuel Schiffler 1. International Water Law: Regulations for Cooperation and the Discussion of the International Water Convention / Jorg Barandat and Aytul Kaplan 2. International Water Agreements: A Comparative View / Manuel Schiffler 3. The Middle East Peace Process: Obstacles to Cooperation over Shared Waters / Jochen Renger 4. Transboundary Externalities and Regional Integration / Rainer Durth 5. Contested Waters: Dividing or Sharing? / Ulrich Kuffner 6. The Jordan River Basin: Prospects for Cooperation Within the Middle East Peace Process? / Ines Dombrowsky 7. Conflicts on the Euphrates: An Analysis of Water and Non-water Issues / Waltina Scheumann 8. Conflicts over the Nile or Conflicts on the Nile? / Manuel Schiffler Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses (21 May 1997) Interim Agreement Between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (28 September 1995) Agreement Between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area (4 May 1994) Treaty of Peace Between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (26 October 1994) Agreement Between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Syrian Republic for the Utilization of the Yarmouk River (3 September 1987) Agreement Between the Republic of the Sudan and the United Arab Republic for the Full Utilization of the Nile Waters (8 November 1959).

Seller Inventory # PGMIDX138

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Water in the Middle East: Potential for Conflicts and Prospects for Cooperation
• Publisher: Springer
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3540640290
• ISBN 13: 9783540640295
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Development Studies
  • Middle East

About this title

Synopsis

The fonner Egyptian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and fonner UN Secre­ tary General, Butros Butros Ghali stated after the second Gulf War "The next war in the Middle East will not be fought for oil, but for water. " This famous statement has been echoed by many politicians: shortly before be­ coming president of Turkey, SOleyman Demirel declared that the waters of the Euphrates and Tigris belonged to Turkey, just as oil belongs to the Arabs. Rafael Eytan, at that time and now again Israeli Minister of Agriculture, declared in 1990 in full-page advertisements in the Jerusalem Post that Israel would never cede the West Bank to the Palestinians because Israel's water supply would otherwise be endangered. Finally, Ismail Serageldin, vice president of the World Bank, declared in 1995 that "the wars of the next century will be over water". These statements are typical of the atmosphere reigning in the Middle East and in several other places around the world concerning the issue of international fresh water resources. Whether these perceptions correspond to an actual threat to a nation's water supply or whether they correspond to the official position of states in negotiations often conducted secretly, is an entirely different matter. A closer analysis of the issue of international fresh water resources, as we attempt in this book, admittedly reveals a dangerous potential for conflict over water.

From the Back Cover

In the 1980s, scientists, politicians and journalists frequently emphasized, particularly on the Jordan, Euphrates and Nile Rivers, that conflicts over shared water resources would lead to "water wars". A closer analysis shows that non-water issues have played the major role when conflicts in the region became heated, with the water issue being politically implemented. However, the unregulated and unequitable access to international rivers and the unilateral development of irrigated agriculture add to already high political tensions. The authors reveal that multilateral agreements over shared waters are a realistic option even in politically strained situations, if the expected costs of non-agreement are perceived as too high. If cooperation is beneficial to all Middle East nation states, it is easier to shift from overemphasis on national sovereignty to the concept of restricted national sovereignty and integrity which corresponds to international law.