Will Nile water go to Israel? North Sinai pipelines and the politics of scarcity

Middle East Policy

Volumn 5, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 113-124

  Bleier, Ronald ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0031536815     PISSN: 10611924     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4967.1997.tb00285.x     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Cherif Cordahi, "Egypt-Water: Too Little to go Around, Too Precious to Waste," InterPress Services (IPS), June 20, 1995.
2. The British Broadcasting Corporation, November 22, 1996, quoting the Mena News Agency, Cairo, in Arabic, November 20, 1996. Mubarak called the opening the previous day of the third tunnel underneath the Suez Canal a "historic moment to launch a new demographic map and usher Egypt into the 21st century." It is not immediately clear why a third tunnel would be necessary since each tunnel carries sufficient water for the proposed development sites in the North Sinai. A second tunnel might be used as a backup, but the construction of a third tunnel increases fears that it might be used to move water to the Gaza Strip area and thus to Israel.
3. Amy Dockser Marcus, "Egypt Faces Problem It Has Long Dreaded: Less Control of the Nile," The Wall Street Journal, August 22, 1997, p. 1.
4. Subhi Kahhalen, "The water problem in Israel and its repercussions on the Arab-Israeli conflict," IPS, Beirut, paper #9(E), 1981, p. 50.
5. Ibid., p. 49.
6. Middle East Economic Digest, October 22, 1993, p. 12.
7. Sandra Postel, "A Water Ethic," Talking Leaves, pp. 23-25. Spring 1996.
8. The Economist Intelligence Unit, Egypt: Country Profile 1990-91, p. 22.
9. Abdel-Rahman Tamimi, "Water: A Factor for Conflict or Peace in the Middle East," Israeli-Palestinian Research Project: Working Paper Series No. 20, Jerusalem, 1991/92, p. 3.
10. Aaron T. Wolf, "Hydropolitics along the Jordan River: Scarce Water and its Impact on the Arab-Israeli Conflict" (United Nations University Press, Tokyo, 1995), p. 57.
11. Stephan Libiszewski, "Water Disputes in the Jordan Basin Region and their Role in the Resolution of the Arab-Israeli Conflict," Environment and Conflicts Project, Occasional Paper No. 13, August 1995, Zurich, Switzerland, p. 57.
12. Cordahi, op. cit., note 1.
13. Amy Dockser Marcus, op. Cit., note 3. The Wall Street Journal echos warnings of the scarcity of Nile water. "But there isn't enough Nile water to complete the irrigation plans of Ethiopia and Egypt, let alone the other nations that share it." The article quotes Dale Wittington, a University of North Carolina water expert speaking at a 1997 conference in Addia Ababa warning that Ethiopia and Egypt "are set 'on a collision course that both may have difficulty changing.'" Marcus, op. cit., note 3.
14. Amy Dockser Marcus, op. Cit., note 3. The Wall Street Journal echos warnings of the scarcity of Nile water. "But there isn't enough Nile water to complete the irrigation plans of Ethiopia and Egypt, let alone the other nations that share it." The article quotes Dale Wittington, a University of North Carolina water expert speaking at a 1997 conference in Addia Ababa warning that Ethiopia and Egypt "are set 'on a collision course that both may have difficulty changing.'" Marcus, op. cit., note 3.
15. Steven Lonergan, "Climate Warming, Water Resources and Geopolitical Conflict: A Study of Nations Dependent on the Nile, Litani and Jordan River Systems," Canada, 1991.
16. Bahaa El-Koussy, "Sudan briefs Arab League on tensions." UPI, July 3, 1995, Monday, BC cycle.
17. Mideast Mirror, "Something is being cooked up." June 29, 1995, Section: Egypt-Sudan; Vol. 09, No. 123.
18. Bashir Sherif Albarghothy, "The Israeli Ambitions in the Waters of Palestine and Neighboring Arab Countries," Amman: Al-Galil Publishing House, [in Arabic], 1986.
19. Ibid.
20. Executive Summary," Climate warming, water resources and geopolitical conflict: A study of nations dependent on the Nile. National Defence Dept., Ottawa, Operational Research and Analysis Establishment (ORAE), paper #55, 1990.
21. InterPress Services, April 14, 1994.
22. The Economist Intelligence Unit, "Egypt: EIU Country Profile 1992-93," 1993, pp. 20-21.
23. Albarghothy, op. cit., note 14. The figure of .02 feddans has apparently since been reduced by increasing population to .015 feddans per capita.
24. Sandra Postel, "The Politics of Water," Worldwatch, July-August, 1995.
25. Personal communication from Thomas Naff in November 1996 based on his interviews with World Bank and U.S. government officials. The Wall Street Journal found that Ethiopia "has already completed work on more than 200 dams that use 624 million cubic yards of Nile water a year." Marcus, op. cit., note 3.
26. Jessica T. Mathews, "Redefining Security." Foreign Affairs, 1989, 68:162-177.
27. Ibid., p. 168.
28. Richard Matthew, "Environmental Security: Demystifying the Concept, Clarifying the Stakes." American Association for the Advancement of Science, Woodrow Wilson Center for Environmental Change and Security Project Report, Issue 1 (Spring 1995).
29. Paul R. Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (New York: Ballantine, 1968), Paul R. Ehrlich, and Anne H. Ehrlich, The Population Explosion (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990).
30. Paul R. Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (New York: Ballantine, 1968), Paul R. Ehrlich, and Anne H. Ehrlich, The Population Explosion (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990).
31. Barry Commoner, The Closing Circle: Nature, Man and Technology (New York: Bantam, 1971).
32. Thomas Homer-Dixon, "Strategies for Studying Causation in Complex Ecological-Political Systems," Journal of Environment and Development, Vol. 5, No. 2, June 1996, p. 137.
33. Shimon Peres, The New Middle East (New York: Henry Holt, 1993), p. 130.
34. Ibid., pp. 124-127.
35. Ibid., p. 129.
36. See Ronald Bleier, "Israel's Theft of Arab Water: An Obstacle to Peace," Middle East Labor Bulletin, Vol 4, No. 4, Spring 1994, pp.3-4ff.
37. See Joe Stork, "Water and Israel's Occupation," Middle East Report, July-August 1983, p. 21; and Sharif Elmusa, "Dividing the Common Palestinian-Israeli Waters: An International Water Law Approach," Journal of Palestine Studies, No. 87, Spring 1993.
38. See Joe Stork, "Water and Israel's Occupation," Middle East Report, July-August 1983, p. 21; and Sharif Elmusa, "Dividing the Common Palestinian-Israeli Waters: An International Water Law Approach," Journal of Palestine Studies, No. 87, Spring 1993.
39. Virginia Tilley, Destroyed Villages of the Golan Heights, Pamphlet, Settlement Watch, 1992, p. 6.
40. See Libiszewski, op. cit., note 10, p. 73. Libiszewski agrees that at least for "the very short term" Jordan will get a minimal amount of new water. See also Frederick C. Hof, "The Yarmouk and Jordan Rivers in the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty," Middle East Policy, Vol III, Number 4, April 1995, pp. 47-56. Hof confirms that in the near term Jordan will get very little new water and both writers agree that larger amounts for Jordan are dependent on external funding for joint water projects.
41. See Libiszewski, op. cit., note 10, p. 73. Libiszewski agrees that at least for "the very short term" Jordan will get a minimal amount of new water. See also Frederick C. Hof, "The Yarmouk and Jordan Rivers in the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty," Middle East Policy, Vol III, Number 4, April 1995, pp. 47-56. Hof confirms that in the near term Jordan will get very little new water and both writers agree that larger amounts for Jordan are dependent on external funding for joint water projects.
42. Stephen Langfur, "Oslo-2 and the Water Question," Challenge (Jerusalem), November-December 1995, pp. 4-7.
43. Ehud Barak quoted in Jerusalem Post, February 17, 1996.
44. See for example Ehud Ya'ari, "The Talk of War," Ma'ariv, June 28, 1996, reprinted in From the Hebrew Press, Monthly Translations and Commentaries from Israel, by Dr. Israel Shahak, Supplement, September 1996, pp. 7-8; and Aluf Ben, "The War [with Syria] Is Already in Our Living Rooms," Ha'aretz, October 25, 1996.
45. See for example Ehud Ya'ari, "The Talk of War," Ma'ariv, June 28, 1996, reprinted in From the Hebrew Press, Monthly Translations and Commentaries from Israel, by Dr. Israel Shahak, Supplement, September 1996, pp. 7-8; and Aluf Ben, "The War [with Syria] Is Already in Our Living Rooms," Ha'aretz, October 25, 1996.
46. See for example Ehud Ya'ari, "The Talk of War," Ma'ariv, June 28, 1996, reprinted in From the Hebrew Press, Monthly Translations and Commentaries from Israel, by Dr. Israel Shahak, Supplement, September 1996, pp. 7-8; and Aluf Ben, "The War [with Syria] Is Already in Our Living Rooms," Ha'aretz, October 25, 1996.
47. Joel Cohen, How Many People Can Earth Support? (New York: Norton, 1996).