Climate predictions for the Jordan River Basin, over the 21st Century, are that warming will be larger than global annual mean warming. Precipitation rates are likely to fall and a tendency for more extreme weather, including heat waves, will add to the existing challenge of water scarcity. Projected population growth in the region will add to demand on the resource. Since the Oslo II Accords of 1995, the water of the West Bank has been shared out by a cooperative Palestinian/Israeli structure called the Joint Water Committee, despite subsequent conflicts and disputes over allocations, It was thought that this cooperative model might lead to other forms of cooperation and from there to a lasting peace settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Consequently cooperation as a policy has been adopted by the donor community on which so many in this region are dependent. This study looks at how cooperation in the water sector in the West Bank has many different interpretations and what the impacts of that cooperation are on the dynamics of power. It looks both at the tangible gains and losses of cooperation but also about how cooperation makes people feel. Analysis suggests that there are improved perceptions of common humanity, gains in the form of a preserved environment, shared expertise and education and short term financial benefits. However analysis also suggests that Palestinians feel obligated to cooperate, bound by donor stipulations and Israeli coercion with few viable alternatives. The restrictions and limits imposed by the Joint Water Committee suggest that the balance of power within this institution favour Israeli ambitions in the West Bank. This study concludes that cooperation in the water sector sustains the political status quo, in which the Israeli remains a dominative hegemon, thus limiting the opportunities for peace building.
The full text of these resource are only available to Oxford Brookes staff and students. Please login to RADAR if you are a student or member of staff
Carnegie, Rory
Rights Holders: Carnegie, Rory Supervisors: Carver, Richard
School of Architecture
MA Development and Emergency Practice
2015
© Carnegie, Rory Published by Oxford Brookes UniversityAll rights reserved