Transcript THE PROMETHEE METHOD

Past and Present Can Help Build
Better Future for the States
Sharing Water Resources
(Israeli-Arab Water Conflict)
Dr. Mohamed Asheesh
Oulu University of Applied Sciences
Kotkantie 1
90250 Oulu, Finland
[email protected]
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
TWRM in Global Context
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263 river basins in the world, shared by two or more countries
(FAO 2002)
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Nearly 50 countries have 75% or more of their total land area
within shared river basins.
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35-40% of the world's population lives in these basins.
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”Everybody lives downstream”
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Water Conflicts
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
The Problems
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inequality in distribution of the water resources
excessive use
high water usage for food production
growth of tension
crossboundary water resources
drylands aspects
global climate changes
distrust as a consequence of poor relations
and use of force to solve conflicts
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Water war or land war
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General (later defense minister under Menachem Begin,
and later still prime minister) Ariel Sharon once said,
"People generally regard 5 June 1967 as the day the Sixday war began. That is the official date. But, in reality, it
started two- and-a-half years earlier, on the day Israel
decided to act against the diversion of the Jordan." The
1967 "Six Days War" might be considered the first "water
war."
Israel is considering itself to be a First World country,
surrounded by Third World countries, in the middle of an
ecosystem entirely unsuited to support such disparity.
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
The National Water Carrier
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The National Water Carrier of Israel
(construction started 1956) is the main water
project of Israel. Its main task is to transfer water
of the rainy north of Israel to the center and arid
south and to enable efficient use of water and
regulation of water supply in the country.
Most of the water works in Israel are connected to
the National Water Carrier, the length of which is
about 130 kilometers.
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Water Sources
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Lake Kinneret (a.k.a., the Sea of Galilee) provides
over a third of Israel's water.
Another third comes from two aquifers - large,
geographical areas of subterranean catchments
where water accumulates.
These aquifers lie beneath the Gaza strip and the
West Bank: precisely the territories Israel seized in
the 1969 war.
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Annual water uptake by the Israelis
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Lake Kinneret
The Mountain Aquifer
The Coastal Aquifer
All other sources
Total average
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"Israel's Chronic Water Problem“
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700 MCM/year
370 MCM/year
320 MCM/year
410 MCM/year
1,800 MCM/year
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
International law
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The West Bank and Gaza are occupied territories,
(Under international law)
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Geneva Conventions-which govern the
appropriate use of occupied territories - forbid
moving people into an occupied territory.
That's precisely what Israel's settlement program
did. Israel then proceeded to siphon the water of
the West Bank away from its native Palestinian
population, to the new settler population.
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Water consumption
Helsinki Rules
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At present, Israelis receive five times as much water per
person as Palestinians.
In Gaza, the disparity is even more striking, with settlers
getting seven times as much water as their Palestinian
neighbors.
Stated differently, on average, Israelis get 350.15 liters per
person per day, while Palestinians in the West Bank get
70.03 liters per person per day. The minimum quantity of
water recommended by the U.S. Agency for International
Development and the World Health Organization for
household and urban use alone is 100 liters per person per
day. ...
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Israeli/ Palestinian network
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Israel did hook some Palestinian towns into the water
network - although nearly 30% of Palestinian homes have
yet to be connected - but it did not provide appropriate
maintenance work, with the result that, today, as much as
half of the water meant to supply some Palestinian towns
may be lost to leaking pipes (B'Tselem). The country also
gave Israelis and settlers priority access to water: In the
summer, when water is scarce, the Israeli water company
Mekorot shuts the valves of the main pipelines supplying
Palestinian towns so that Israeli supplies remain
unaffected.
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Conclusions
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We didn’t learn anything from the past
Diverting the Jordan River was catastrophe for all, shouldn’t Israelis
learn from it?
Drying the Huleh lake was not also the best project that was done at
that time.
Force and unilateral activities (alone dissection) will not solve the
problems in long term
Some of our historical resources will not be existing in the near future:
the Dead Sea & Jordan River
Sovereign rights  a fair and equitable solution
Conflict of distrust
Data and information gaps: centralization and control
International Observers & Joint Commission (IJC) in this case didn’t
work
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Crossboundary Water Resources
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Categories of Conflicts
Factual
disagreements (Berhamer)
* differences in opinions of certain activities
Conflicting
goals (Warfield, 1993)

water management´s values -environmental &
hydropower
 upstream & downstream countries
 sharing of costs of common infrastructure.
Relational

aspects
struggle and use of force
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
1966
Helsinki Rules
Basis for
international
negotiations on
nonnavigational
water use
Several
international
initiatives and
agreements
1967
1977
Overall development of the
International Water Law and
international conventions
1997
Adopted by the
International Law
Association (ILA)
Convention on the
Law of NonNavigational Uses of
the Water Courses
1997
21 May 1997-21 May
2000 for signature
International Law
Commission’s
(ILC) Rules
Mirror of the
Helsinki Rules
with few
exceptions
1986
1986
Supplemented
by the Seoul
Rules
concerning
international Montpellier
©Asheesh/
ground waters
CEDEX 5 - France2008
©Asheesh
Categories of Scarcity
Index1
(m3 per
capita)
Category/
Condition1
index2
(m3 per
capita)
Category/
Condition2
>1700
No stress
<1000
Scarcity
1000-1700
Stress
<1667
Stress
500-1000
Scarcity
>1667
Abundance
<500
Absolute
scarcity
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Table 2. The population, growth rate, and the minimum water requirement (MWR) for the
Middle Eastern countries estimates for 2000 and 2020 (Isaac& Shuval 1994 modified by
Asheesh June, 2000).
Population
in
2020 (mil)
Area
water
resource
potential
(Mm3/yr)
total water
per
capita per
year in 2000
(m3/P/Yr)
total water
per
capita per
year 2020
(m3/P/Yr)
total MWR
in
2020
(Mm3/Yr)
Total
excess
or
shortage
(Mm3/yr)
Growth
rate
(%)
Population in
2000 (mil)
6.0
9.8
1500
250
153
1229
271
2.5
Jordan
4.7
9.9
1100
234
111
1239
-139
3.8
Palestine
2.6
5.1
300
115
59
634
-334
3.4
14.9
25.9
10500
705
406
3236
7264
2.8
3.3
4.4
3700
1121
849
545
3155
1.4
Turkey
61.9
83.4
105000
1696
1259
10421
94579
1.5
Egypt
64.3
120.7
60000
933
497
15091
44909
3.2
Israel
Syria
Lebanon
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Water resources cross per
capital
Israel
 Jordan
 Palestine
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Total
344 m3 /year
244 m3 /year
93 m3/year
681 m3 /year
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
The Dead Sea
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Jordan River
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Where the Water Is
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
Conflict
Factual
disagreement
Disagreement
on course of
action
Conflict
about goals
Relational
aspects
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008
HAIFA
N. E.
AQUIFER
NETANYA
TEL AVIV
WESTERN NABLUS
AQUIFER
EASTERN
AQUIFER
AMMAN
ASHDOD
JERUSALEM
GAZA
DEAD SEA
BETHLEHEM
BEERSHEBA
A/459/ASHEESH/KARTTA1
©Asheesh/ Montpellier CEDEX 5 - France2008