Friends of the Earth Middle East last two publications

Friends of the Earth Middle East, a regional environment organization working on transboundary water challenges in the Middle East, specifically Israel, Jordan and Palestine, would be most grateful if you can post these 2 publications that deal with shared water between Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians on the Water-L listserve.

(1)    AN AGREEMENT TO SHARE WATER BETWEEN ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS: By David B. Brooks and Julie Trottier, with Preface by Nader Al Khatib, Munqeth Mehyar and Gidon Bromberg. March 2012

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (Partial): Transboundary water agreements are usually conceived as allocation agreements. In other words, water is treated as if it were a pie to be divided among the riparian states. This approach works for land, which is stable, but not for water, which not only moves along, across and under political boundaries but can be used over and over from the time it originates as precipitation until it eventually finds its way back to the sea or evaporates or seeps into a deep aquifer. Though a fixed allocation — that is, specific amounts or percentage shares to each of the parties — is sometimes useful to avoid conflict and solve short-term problems, it is not appropriate as a way to ensure efficient, equitable, and sustainable management of shared water over the long term. Older legal regimes for allocating water, such as First in-Time/First-in-Right, are gradually being replaced, even in western North America where they were once common. Newer approaches emphasize the duties to use shared water in ways that are reasonable and equitable, and to avoid harm to neighboring states. The trick, of course, is to define those terms in ways that are acceptable and applicable in specific circumstances, which brings us to the focus of this report by EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). The FoEME Proposal adopts a joint management structure for Israel and the future State of Palestine that allows for ongoing resolution of issues concerning fresh water, and does so in a way that effectively de-nationalizes and de-securitizes water uses. That is, water is shared by rules that are designed to protect the ecosystem for everyone’s benefit, and then deliver water to different parties in ways that meet their needs and allow for their development without resorting to arguments of national security or beggar-thy-neighbor development. Though looking toward a Final Status Agreement, the FoEME Proposal is designed in a way that allows it to be adopted and implemented in the near term, prior to that agreement.

(2)    Why Cooperate Over Water? Shared Waters of Palestine, Israel and Jordan: Cross border crises and the need for trans-national solutions.

By Yana Abu Taleb, Project Coordinator – Jordan, Michael Alexander, Project Coordinator – Israel, Catherine-Emeline Robillard, Project Coordinator - Palestine and Nader Al Khateeb, Palestinian Director, Gidon Bromberg, Israeli Director, Munqeth Mehyar, Jordanian Director.  September 2010.

This report summarizes the interrelated water problems faced by Israel, Palestine and Jordan, focusing on their shared water basins and highlighting the urgency behind the need to cooperate, and the values and principles underlying the type of cooperation espoused by Friends of the Earth Middle East.

INTRODUCTION: Jordan, Israel and Palestine share a geographical area comprised of shared water basins, including the Jordan River, the Dead Sea and the Mountain and Coastal Aquifers. These basins are all subject to natural conditions of water stress given the region's mostly dry climatic conditions. All three governments, though responsible to varying degrees, are exploiting these common water sources in an unsustainable manner. Political conflict has further led to domination and misallocation of resources, encouraged unregulated pollution, and prevented the sustainable management of these shared waters. Harsh water realities have resulted. The high disparity between average Israeli and Palestinian water consumption rates is directly related to Israeli domination over the Palestinian water economy. Shared water bodies have been heavily compromised, over-pumped or diverted to a degree nearing devastation, with pollution, including untreated sewage, often replacing the water diverted. Beyond the conflict, poor management, inappropriate investment in water, lack of national political leadership, and unsustainable water consumption behavior have greatly contributed to the mismanagement of scarce water resources in the region. Adequate cooperation over the management, utilization and protection of these resources is necessary to ensure sustainable water use on the one hand and equitable water utilization between people, and between people and nature, on the other hand. Arrangements for shared water management exist in the region, including in the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty and the 1995 Oslo Interim agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which set up a Joint Water Committee (JWC). But these arrangements have proven inadequate, as evidenced by inequitable water allocations, the continuing deterioration of shared waters and mutual blaming by all sides, as skepticism grows over the wider regional peace process. Nevertheless, fair and fruitful cooperation over water resources remains an issue of self- and mutual interest in all three countries dependent on these shared waters. Transnational arrangements for sustainable management of shared waters exist elsewhere in the world, including in conflict regions, and provide models that can be applied in our region.

This report summarizes the interrelated water problems faced by Israel, Palestine and Jordan, focusing on their shared water basins and highlighting the urgency behind the need to cooperate, and the values and principles underlying the type of cooperation espoused by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). We rely on the many reports and briefing papers FoEME has published in the past. Our assessments are based on the hands-on experience FoEME has gained through the cross-border community program 'Good Water Neighbors', now active in 25 communities sharing common water resources. This report shows that transnational cooperation over shared waters is unavoidable. FoEME's experience shows that the manner by which that cooperation takes place -- and an understanding of the importance of water to both people and nature -- will determine how this cooperation will result in healthier ecosystems and more equitable allocation of water between the peoples of this region.