Continuing Conflict or Compromise? Water and Land in the Jordan Basin

Abstract

This paper considers water scarcity and competition between the various riparians in the vicinity of the generally semi-arid Jordan basin. Particular attention is focused on Israel and its increasing demands for water in the ongoing colonization of its peripheral regions. A necessary understanding of that colonization is afforded by our brief consideration of the “Land of Israel, ” which provides specific insights into the dominant and overarching Israeli psyche, relating on to the importance of its totemic space, Eretz Yisrael. The earlier cooperative water development options (dating to the late 1990s)—including the five possible pipeline projects: the Nile-Naqab, the Red-Dead, the Med-Dead, the so-called Peace Pipeline (Anatolia to Jordan basin and the Gulf), its variant SETNI, and the contentious Hisbani-Wazzini plans and desalination possibilities—are outlined. Broader development issues relating to economic development and water use are briefly introduced, as are several of the recent initiatives to...