Mark Zeitoun

The Conflict vs. Cooperation Paradox: Fighting Over or Sharing of Palestinian-Israeli Groundwater?

Abstract While there has been practically no evidence offered of a causal link between water and armed conflict, the real benefits of inter-state cooperation over water issues tend to be over-emphasized. Along the west bank of the Jordan River there is ample evidence of both cooperation and conflict occurring simultaneously—an apparent contradiction referred to as the conflict vs. cooperation paradox. This paper attempts to explain the paradox by examination of two features not commonly considered by water conflict analysts: a) an under-consideration of the dynamics and levels of conflict, and, b) a narrow focus on the very broad, complex and nuanced political context within which the competition for water exists. Through examination of the different levels of conflict, this paper shows that the absence of war does not mean the absence of conflict, nor does it mean that competing riparians are cooperating. The political context is explored through two theories from international relations. Regime theory is employed to show that far from one of its intended goals of allowing for proper water resources management, the structure of the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee allows Israel to maintain an ‘Imposed-Order regime’ while maintaining a veil over the conflict. Application of Security theory shows how water issues are readily ‘securitized’ and how the asymmetric power relations between the two sides results in the conflict being contained, and lingering unresolved. By adding insight and clarity into the Palestinian-Israeli water conflict, this paper intends to add nuance to our understanding of transboundary water conflicts in general.

Transboundary water interaction III: contest and compliance

This paper serves international water conflict resolution efforts by examining the ways that states contest hegemonic transboundary water arrangements. The conceptual framework of dynamic transboundary water interaction that it presents integrates theories about change and counter-hegemony to ascertain coercive, leverage, and liberating mechanisms through which contest and transformation of an arrangement occur. While the mechanisms can be active through sociopolitical processes either of compliance or of contest of the arrangement, most transboundary water interaction is found to contain elements of both. The role of power asymmetry is interpreted through classification of intervention strategies that seek to either influence or challenge the arrangements. Coexisting contest and compliance serve to explain in part the stasis on the Jordan and Ganges rivers (where the non-hegemons have in effect consented to the arrangement), as well as the changes on the Tigris and Mekong rivers, and even more rapid changes on the Amu Darya and Nile rivers (where the non-hegemons have confronted power asymmetry through influence and challenge). The framework also stresses how transboundary water events that may appear isolated are more accurately read within the many sociopolitical processes and arrangements they are shaped by. By clarifying the typically murky dynamics of interstate relations over transboundary waters, furthermore, the framework exposes a new suite of entry points for hydro-diplomatic initiatives.

The Influence of Narratives on Negotiations over and Resolution of the Upper Jordan River Conflict

Abstract This article tests the assertion that narratives constructed around international environmental issues serve to promote or reduce opportunities for their resolution. It does this by interpreting the influence of Lebanese and Israeli environmental narratives on resolution of and indirect negotiations over the Upper Jordan River conflict. Colonial archives, key informant interviews and academic and policy literature serve to identify and critically investigate the narratives. An official Lebanese narrative of adherence to international law is found to contradict the more popular nationalist narrative of Israeli ‘theft’ of the flows. An Israeli water security discourse is found to be built on earlier narratives that have long held water (and the Upper Jordan flows in particular) as both a physically scarce and strategic commodity necessary for continued existence of the Israeli state. Basic discourse, security studies and negotiation theory is developed to gauge the influence of the narratives during the 2002 informal negotiations over the Wazzani pumping station dispute. The more influential Israeli discourse is found to establish the starting point (no discussion on re-allocation of the flows) and process of the informal negotiations. The narratives are found to open or shut windows for resolution of the conflict, by politicizing or securitizing ideas about the flows, respectively. The conflict management approach favored by US and EU mediators is seen to align with the more dominant discourse, at the cost of enduring asymmetry and tensions, and missed opportunities for both resolution of the conflict and promotion of fair water-sharing norms.

Conflict and social vulnerability to climate change: lessons from Gaza

In societies marred by conflict, the propensity of populations to be harmed by climate hazards is likely to be increased by their exposure to violence and other coercive practices. Stakeholder assessments of climate vulnerability, as reported here for the Gaza Strip, can capture the qualitative experience of harm caused by conflict-related practices as these relate to, and interact with, forecasted climatic risks. The key pathways of climate vulnerability identified by stakeholders in Gaza relate above all to expected impacts on food security and water security. Exploration of these vulnerability pathways reveals conflict-structured non-climatic risks overwhelming forecasted climate risks. The prevalence in Gaza of short-term ‘enforced coping’ prevents the development of long-term adaptive capacity. Climate vulnerability assessments in (post)conflict environments should acknowledge the methodological and political-policy challenges caused by chronic, non-climatic sources of harm.

Violations, Opportunities and Power along the Jordan River: Security Studies Theory Applied to Water Conflict

This chapter examines the applicability of recent developments in the field of security studies to water conflict issues in the Jordan River basin. Neumann’s contribution to the Copenhagen School of security studies, particularly the concept of the ‘violization’ of politics, is discussed alongside Warner’s contribution of the concept of ‘opportunitization’. Both concepts incorporation of the insight garnered through consideration of the guiding rationale of the state and non-state actors. It is shown that a combination of these concepts results in an expanded security continuum (non-politicized — politicized — securitzed/opportunitized — violated) that is directly relevant to the analysis of water conflict issues between Palestine and Israel. Warner identifies the prime concerns, goals and power of actors in different security sectors to develop the concept of ‘security sector goals’.

Recommendations for dealing with waste contaminated with Ebola virus: a Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points approach

Abstract Objective To assess, within communities experiencing Ebola virus outbreaks, the risks associated with the disposal of human waste and to generate recommendations for mitigating such risks. Methods A team with expertise in the Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points framework identified waste products from the care of individuals with Ebola virus disease and constructed, tested and confirmed flow diagrams showing the creation of such products. After listing potential hazards associated with each step in each flow diagram, the team conducted a hazard analysis, determined critical control points and made recommendations to mitigate the transmission risks at each control point. Findings The collection, transportation, cleaning and shared use of blood-soiled fomites and the shared use of latrines contaminated with blood or bloodied faeces appeared to be associated with particularly high levels of risk of Ebola virus transmission. More moderate levels of risk were associated with the collection and transportation of material contaminated with bodily fluids other than blood, shared use of latrines soiled with such fluids, the cleaning and shared use of fomites soiled with such fluids, and the contamination of the environment during the collection and transportation of blood-contaminated waste. Conclusion The risk of the waste-related transmission of Ebola virus could be reduced by the use of full personal protective equipment, appropriate hand hygiene and an appropriate disinfectant after careful cleaning. Use of the Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points framework could facilitate rapid responses to outbreaks of emerging infectious disease.

Water: resistance on the route towards a fair share for all.

SIR — In April 1974, some months after I had taken over from John Maddox as editor of Nature, I was driving home from the printers with a colleague at four in the morning, having just put the latest issue to bed. News came in over the radio of a coup in Portugal. What would John have done? We agreed that he would have turned the car round and written a new thousand-word Editorial: ‘What future for Portuguese science? The coup in Lisbon is, or ought to be, an opportunity for Portuguese scientists ...’ We smiled at the thought, but drove on. This little story exemplifies John’s approach to Nature. As a one-time journalist, he prized immediacy. He had a formidable list of contacts, and even if he hadn’t known any Portuguese scientists, he would still have created a sense of authority. Until his arrival as editor in 1966, Nature had been a worthy journal of record but lacking in flair; it changed rapidly as John brought his journalistic background to bear. ‘We wuz robbed’ was the title of an Editorial written at the time of the 1966 Football World Cup, proposing a new method for determining the winner. Very different from previous fare, which ran along the lines of ‘comment on the progress of Her Majesty’s Alkali Inspectorate as described in its 47th Annual Report’. John gathered around him enthusiasts in the academic world for this new style of journal. He urged us to seek out good scientific papers and gave us free rein to hold forth in Editorials. We were awed by his restless energy in generating thousands of words. John was immensely active. He took on broader responsibilities within Macmillan; he launched the weekly Nature New Biology and Nature Physical Science; he spoke regularly on the radio; he challenged environmentalists’ excesses and wrote a book, Doomsday Syndrome (Macmillan, 1972). That year, he founded Maddox Editorial Ltd, which went on to publish a European journal. The result of all this was that Nature received less than his fulltime attention and began to fray at the edges. In 1973, Macmillan and John parted company. Shortly before I took over, John expounded his ‘diminishing tenure’ rule to me by drawing a little graph of duration of successive Nature editorships. Norman Lockyer, the first, served for a remarkable 50 years, but the stints of his successors — Richard Gregory, joint editors Jack Brimble and Arthur Gale, and John himself — became steadily shorter. In his impish way, John, who had been editor for seven years, predicted I’d last three-and-a-half. Fortunately I managed rather longer, but when John, by then director of the Nuffield Foundation, got wind of my interest in moving on, he invited me to lunch and revealed that he very much wanted to get back into the editor’s chair. Out came the imp in him again: ‘Why don’t we swap jobs?’ He returned in 1980; at that time, many doubted his wisdom in going back. He proved us wrong over the next 15 years and spectacularly disproved the ‘diminishing tenure’ rule. David Davies Cross Keys House, Fovant, Salisbury SP3 5JH, UK

The relevance of international water law to later-developing upstream states

The relevance of the main instruments of international water law to the hydraulic development projects of later-developing upstream states is explored, for a non-legal audience. Relevance is gauged by querying common misperceptions, checking the compatibility of the instruments, and considering their effect along the Nile, Jordan and Tigris Rivers and associated aquifers. Specific principles of international water law are found to support upstream development in theory, though its relevance is threatened by incompatibility of clauses between the instruments, the erosion of norm-building processes, and a shift away from the idea that territorial sovereignty over a fluid resource should be limited.

A “justice” reading of the trans-national struggle of the people displaced by the Merowe Dam

ABSTRACT This paper applies a “justice” lens to the struggle of the people displaced by the Merowe Dam in northern Sudan. Application of distributive, procedural, and representational aspects of justice exposes the dissatisfaction of the affected people with the government’s offer and execution of compensation. Consideration of social justice and the utility of norms in trans-national activism brings into sharp focus the difference in interests, and abilities of the many actors involved, and highlights the government’s tactics to divide the communities, and the social divisions sown. As the struggle develops, justice claims are seen to change towards less material issues, suggesting that an expanded and dynamic conception of justice is more helpful than narrow or time-bound conceptions. The findings are of relevance to communities facing possible displacement from dams planned nearby, not least of all for the insight provided on the effectiveness of different tactics in the struggle.

The impact of explosive weapons on urban services: Direct and reverberating effects across space and time

This article reviews the factors that determine the impact of explosive weapons on urban services in space and time, with a focus on drinking water services. The evidence comes from published and unpublished research and records, as well as experience restoring or maintaining such services. Urban services are seen as interconnected, and each composed of interdependent components of people, consumables, and hardware. Elements that make up the components are labelled ‘upstream’, ‘midstream’, and ‘downstream’, to reflect their location and hierarchy in the production and delivery of any urban service. The impact of explosive weapons is broken into the direct effects on any of the components of a service, and the reverberating effects on up and or downstream components of the same service, or on other services. The effects are most commonly observed in service infrastructure, and determined chiefly by the extent of the damage to the functionality of any component. The spatial extent of the impact is found to be determined primarily by the hierarchy of the component suffering the direct impact, with attacks on upstream components being the furthest reaching. The duration of the impact is determined primarily by the pre-explosion ‘baseline resilience’ of the service, itself a function of system redundancies and emergency preparedness and response. The analysis suggests that the impact is more reasonably foreseeable than may commonly be thought, in the sense that the direct effects of explosives is well-known and that the most important infrastructure is generally identifiable. It follows that proportionality assessments that involve urban services would benefit from: i) the direct and consistent engagement of specialised engineers within the targeting cell; and ii) greater familiarity of the weapons controller with services, infrastructure and systems in urban areas