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First edition, first impression, of this exhaustive report on the water resources of the Jordan Basin, intended to "determine their adequacy to support the resettlement of population in the context of creating two states", Jewish and Arab (Haddadin, p. 237). Although well represented institutionally, this important publication is scarce in commerce. The Emirate of Transjordan, ruled over by the Hashemite dynasty, was established as a British protectorate in 1921 and endured until 1946. In 1936, the Peel Commission was set up to investigate the causes of unrest in neighbouring Palestine, following a six-month Arab general strike. The commission's report, published the following year, concluded that the mandate was unworkable and recommended partition. Here, Michael George Ionides (1903-1978) concludes that existing water resources cannot support both a Jewish state (growing through immigration) and the Arab state recommended by the Peel Commission. This finding is based on his being the first person to estimate the available water resources and irrigable land of the Jordan Valley. He recommends a development plan "based on water availability from the Jordan River and Lake Tiberias" (ibid., p. 237). "The Ionides plan came to nothing as the British subsequently rejected partition as impractical, but the proposals - storage in Lake Tiberias and large-scale irrigation in the East Ghor - were taken up in subsequent plans and have been partly realized today. The leaders of the Yishuv vigorously opposed the Ionides plan … In their view the water resources available within the borders of Mandate Palestine were not enough to sustain the big new population of Jewish immigrants from Europe but also for the agricultural economy of the co-operative settlements, the kibbutzim, that were beginning to dot the land in an N-shaped swathe" (Ward et al., p. 49). Ionides was a civil engineer and highly regarded irrigation expert, whose papers are held at the National Archives. The appended geological report was compiled by the polyglot George Stanfield Blake (1876-1940), who had a deep understanding of the region, having worked there since 1922, and included Palestinian and Levantine Arabic among his languages. Munther J. Haddadin, ed., Water Resources in Jordan: Evolving Policies for Development, the Environment, and Conflict Resolution, 2006; Christopher Ward, Sandra Ruckstuhl, & Isabelle Learmont, The History of Water in the Land Once Called Palestine: Security, Conflict and Loss in Middle East Water Resources, 2022. Quarto. With 9 maps (3 colour, 7 folding), 7 plans (4 folding, 1 colour), and 31 charts and schematics (20 folding, 1 colour). Original blue printed covers, dark purple sand-grain cloth backstrip. Ex-Geological Society of London library, with stamps, record card holder, labels, and paper residue on spine, inner front cover, and title page. Binding sturdy, backstrip creased and worn, covers toned with original colour no longer perceptible, a few folding illustrations creased or proud where sometime carelessly refolded. A very good copy.
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