Water Conflict in the Middle East

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the next conflict in the Middle East may be over water, not oil. It discusses how, with fast-growing populations to feed, Middle Eastern countries are looking anxiously at where they will find the water for agriculture and industry. It looks at how the water problem has come, in the recent years, to the forefront in the relations among the countries of the Middle East and occupies an important place on the agenda of several international organizations.

Outline
The General Situation
Turkey vs. Syria and Iraq
Israel vs. Lebanon
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"A 1998 conflict over water nearly resulted in war. Syria was upset over a Turkish scheme to build a string of dams cross the Upper Euphrates as part of its South East Anatolia Project, which was depriving Syria of water on which its agriculture so heavily depends. The Syrians complained not only about the quantities released but also the quality. The series of dams built by Turkey upstream on the Euphrates means that the water reaching Syria had been used several times for irrigation, thus increasing salinity and harming crops, as well as causing erosion on the banks since it ran faster after being deprived of silt."

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