| The War over Water | |||||||
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| Part of the Israeli Arab conflict | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Israel |
 Syria Lebanon |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Yitzhak Rabin | |||||||
The War over Water (Hebrew: המלחמה על המים, Ha-Milhama al Ha-Maim), also known as The Battle over Water (Hebrew: הקרב על המים, Ha-Krav al Ha-Maim), part of the Israeli Arab conflict, refers to a two and a half year long (November 1964 to May 1967) series of skirmishes and battles - fought between Israel on the one side, and Syria and Lebanon on the other - over the control of the fresh water sources in the Jordan Valley River Basin.
Even though small scale water-related skirmishes took place between the parties ever since the 1949 armistice, the major escalation took place in 1964. That year Israel has completed its National Water Carrier Project. Arab states regarded the project as a unilateral attempt by Israel to divert water sources, and in response have decided to finance a joint Syrian-Lebanese effort to launch a Headwater Diversion Plan that would have blocked the flow of water into the Sea of Galilee, sharply reducing the capacity of the Israeli water carrier. Israel declared it would regard such a diversion as an infringement of its sovereign rights.
Later that year, when the Arab diversion project took physical shape, Israel has begun launching military operations in order to stop the Arab diversion plans. Israel eventually was able to achieve that goal. The Arab diversion project and Israel's subsequent military attacks on those diversion efforts are regarded as some of the major factors which have led to the 1967 Six-Day War.
Contents |
Background
Main articles: Water politics in the Middle East, Water politics in the Jordan River basin
Hydrography of the Jordan River
Tensions following the 1949 armistice
The 1949 Armistice Agreements which followed the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, created three Demilitarized zones in the Israel-Syria border aera. The southernmost, and also the largets of these three stretched form the south-eastern part of the Sea of Galilee eastwards to the Yarmuk River at where the borders of Israel Jordan and Syria met.[1] The issue of sharing the waters of the Jordan-Yarmuk system between Israel, Syria and Jordan turned out to be a major problem after the 1949 armistice agreements.[2]
1964 Escalation
The War over Water
Israel's decision to stop the Arab diversion project
Major incidents
Aftermath
Halt in the Arab diversion plan
Relation to the Six Day War
References
Notes
Bibliography
- Ameri, Hussein A. (Dec., 2002). "Water War in the Middle East: a Looming Threat". The Geographical Journal 168 (4): 313-323.
- Cooley, John, K. (Spring, 1984). "The War over Water". Foreign Policy 54: 3-26.
- Gat, Moshe (Oct., 2004). "The Use of Airpower and its Effects on the Outbreak of the Six Day War". The Journal of Military History 68 (4): 1187-1215.
- Gleick, Peter, H. (Summer, 1993). "Water and Conflict: Fresh Water Resources and International Security". International Security 18 (1): 79-112.
- Haddadin, Montaher J. (Dec., 2002). "Water in the Middle East Peace Process". The Geographical Journal 168 (4): 324-340.
- Lowi, Miriam R. (1995). Water and power: the politics of a scarce resource in the Jordan River basin. Cambridge University Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=314KWutTkFkC&printsec=frontcover&hl=iw.
- Seliktar, Ofira (June, 2005). "Turning Water into Fire: the Jordan River as the Hidden Factor in The Six Day War". The Middle East Review of International Affairs 9 (2). http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2005/issue2/jv9no2a4.html.
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