Managing water for peace in the Middle East : alternative strategies

Middle East water-resource issues are likely to have a significant impact on the future political framework and the achievement of peace settlements in the region. As the severity of Middle Eastern water problems increases, tensions are heightened in an already overheated atmosphere of political hostility. By the end of the 1990s Israel, Jordan, and Palestine will have lost all of their renewable sources of fresh water if current patterns of consumption are not altered. This study attempts to evaluate some new non-conventional approaches to water resources which need to be taken into account in building the new peace in the Middle East. These new approaches, including techno-political alternatives, offer the opportunity to introduce new applications of well-tried technology to solve long-standing water problems which are at the centre of many of the potential sources of conflicts. Five concepts are introduced: (1) integration of development alternatives in the context of a water master plan; (2) co-generation of clean energy and water; (3) the strategic use of non-conventional water resources for sustainable development; (4) techno-political alternatives and joint development with the sharing of resources for the multinational development of the Jordan River and Dead Sea basin; and (5) water-resources planning for peace. The study is limited to a case-study of water-resources planning in the developing countries of the Middle East, with an emphasis on the hydro- powered reverse-osmosis desalination. There are appendices on: reverse-osmosis desalination; the physical geography of Jordan and Israel; the Jordan River system; and the Mediterranean-Dead Sea canal and Al-Wuheda dam projects.