On The Arab-Israeli Water Issues Of Jordan River

Jordan River is one of the three major river systems in the Middle East, there are many serious water conflict in Jordan River basin because of reasons related to history, geography, politics and etc. From the perspective of the relationship between Arab and Israel, this paper will analyse the background, development stages, current state of the problems concerned with Jordan River, and propose some possible resolution. The whole thesis is divided into three chapters.The first chapter mainly analyses the background of the reason why the water issues between Jews and Arabs in Jordan River basin region arose. Geographically, the Middle East is a dry land. Although Jordan River is one of the three main river systems in the Middle East, the total quantity of water of a year is only 1400 Mm~3. The pressure from large population and environment itself has inevitably caused the bad shortage of water along the Jordan River. Apart from this, people along the river have separated into two opposing camps because they belong to different nations. What's more, Zionists' decision to establish their country in Palestine caused the inevitable Arab-Israeli conflict. Therefore, as an extension of the land, the Arab-Israeli water issues of Jordan River emerged.Chapter two deals with the developing stages of the problem, that is, from water conflict to peace talk and cooperation. Before the state of Israel establishing, both Jews and Arabs planed to develop the water resources of Jordan River. After the state of Israel establishing, there were five Middle East Wars, which closely related to water resources. The Third Middle East War is the fierce point of the scramble for water resources of Jordan River from both Israel and Arabian countries. Because Israel occupied larger part of the water resources of Jordan River region, Arabian countries have tried to adopt a more compromising standpoint in order to solve the problem. After the Forth Middle East War, Arab-Israeli relationship changed. From Egyptian-Israeli peace talks to Madrid Peace Meeting, there is a hint of alleviation and cooperation between the two sides upon the resolution the problem to the Arab-Israeli water issues of Jordan River, which provide a probable solution to the issue to be solved. Chapter three is mainly about the current severe water crisis of Jordan River basin and the specific plan to solve the problems. The author demonstrates that we can solve the problems to Arab-Israeli water issues of Jordan River from three aspects. Firstly, through peace talk, the possible conflict and war can be avoided. Secondly, different countries in this area can cooperate on the development of water recourses of the Jordan River basin to promote the Middle East Peace Process and to solve the problem to the water issues in Jordan River basin region. Thirdly, to deal with the scarcity of water in this area, people can use every possible approach to broaden sources of income and reduce expenditure. Through extensive studies on these issues, we can safely draw the conclusion that in order to maintain real peace between Israel and Arab countries, the problem to the water issues in Jordan River basin region should be thoroughly solved. And the history has told us though it has challenge and problem in the issue, it is truly solvable. Therefore, we should be full of hope to see the day when Arab -Israeli peace will be reality.