The impacts on Syria of the hydro-hegemony of Israel

Abstract

All is not quiet on the waterscape. The Middle East comprises the most water scarce region on earth, and water - the life blood of the desert - is steadily depleting. The virtuous aphorism, "man cannot live on bread alone", has been tailored to fit the Middle East. A contemporary extension may well be: - "nations in the regions cannot live on oil alone" The United Nations envisions that by 2025, 30 countries will be water scarce, 18 of these countries belonging to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This, along with the rapid clash of change and continuity, generates a hostile environment hallmarked with an exposé of duress and manipulation, competition for natural resources and civil wars. Hydropolitics along the Jordan River basin are fluid, and the conflicts fought along the basin, which seem to be scenes out of legends, are currently splashed across headlines. The Syrian uprising, that has so far resulted in at least 150, 000 casualties, has sparked off in the agrarian town of Dara'a, and the conflict seemed to have progressed, trailing a distinguishable pattern, paved by water scarcity. Israel, Syria's neighbour and basin hegemon, who annexed the Banias Springs, a tributary to the Jordan River, Mount Hermon, and the Golan Heights in the Six Day War, do not share the same concern. This is remarkable when considering that 60% of Israel's water originates from outside its borders. This study aims at testing the framework of Israel`s hydro-hegemony, in order to evaluate its impacts on Syria. It also endeavours to investigate the power asymmetry that exists within the basin, and to weave a thread between two seemingly independent variables: - Israel hydro-hegemony and Internally Displaced Persons. This will be conducted with the specific purpose of examining the implications that these two variables have had on Syria, namely the 2011 uprising. Of late, awareness towards this imminent phenomenon has increased. In fact, the year 2013 was designated as the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation. However, the surface has not even been scratched, as misinterpretations abound, regarding trans-boundary conflict and cooperation and the role of power in the Middle East. This underlying problem has been the main inspiration for this study.