Water Policy In Israel

This book deals with water policy in Israel. It offers a detailed examination of the main sources of Israel’s water, its principle consumers, the gap between supply and demand, and the complex, contentious work of analyzing and devising the nation’s water management and use policies. Water Policy in Israel is arranged in five broad sections: The dynamics of moving from one policy era to another; Supply management; Demand management; The importance of the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea; and Regional and global issues including water conflict and cooperation and climate change.

According to a famous Talmudic story (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat: 31a), a gentile once approached Rabbi Hillel and asked to be taught the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel replied, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself. That is the entire Torah. The rest is simply an explanation. Go and learn it!’ In much the same way, Jewish law can be described in one word—Torah. All the rest is simply an explanation. The Torah, also known as the Bible, the five books of Moses, and the Pentateuch, was written over 3,000 years ago. Since then, Jewish law has developed various interpretations and applications of the Torah, interpretations of those interpre- tions, and so on. Jewish law contains civil dictates as well as religious protocol. Problems that arose in the framework of religious life and problems surrounding civil relationships both found solutions in the same legal source—the Torah and the Halacha, the Jewish legal interpretations and rulings. This chapter on water law in the Jewish tradition provides insight into Jewish law and custom in general, and rules related to the protection of water sources in particular. One should not look, however, to find a written code of Jewish law, as there is none.

Water Quality Management under Conditions of Scarcity: Israel as a Case Study focuses on the problems of water quality management under circumstances of severe water resource scarcity, particularly in Israel. This book examines how Israel's engineers and scientists deal with the development and management of its limited water resources. Comprised of 13 chapters, this book starts with an overview of the interrelationships between man's well-being and the water environment. This text then explores the goal of water quality control in protecting human health and well-being from exposure to toxic chemicals and detrimental pathogenic microorganisms. Other chapters discuss the development of science, technology, and administrative practice dealing with water quality control, including hygiene, environmental health, sanitation, sanitary engineering, ecology, and environmental protection. The final chapter deals with the concept of hierarchical and selective water use. Biologists, engineers, chemists, agronomists, public health officers, and water resources authorities will find this book extremely useful.

This book presents various approaches to the resolution of the severe water resource issues of the Middle East, with particular emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian water conflicts. The authors include leading Palestinian and Israeli water experts who have worked together on joint research projects aimed at building up mutual understanding and respect. The studies consider the various approaches that could be used to improve cooperation and solve the problems arising from conflicting interests.

"This comprehensive, informed, and balanced volume provides invaluable insights into the roots of the water management challenges in the Middle East and charts a course for resolving this pressing issue."--James D. Wolfensohn, former Quartet Special Envoy for Gaza.

New York Times and Los Angeles Times Bestseller! As every day brings urgent reports of growing water shortages around the world, there is no time to lose in the search for solutions. The U.S. government predicts that forty of our fifty states-and 60 percent of the earth's land surface-will soon face alarming gaps between available water and the growing demand for it. Without action, food prices will rise, economic growth will slow, and political instability is likely to follow. Let There Be Water illustrates how Israel can serve as a model for the United States and countries everywhere by showing how to blunt the worst of the coming water calamities. Even with 60 percent of its country made of desert, Israel has not only solved its water problem; it also had an abundance of water. Israel even supplies water to its neighbors-the Palestinians and the Kingdom of Jordan-every day. Based on meticulous research and hundreds of interviews, Let There Be Water reveals the methods and techniques of the often offbeat inventors who enabled Israel to lead the world in cutting-edge water technology. Let There Be Water also tells unknown stories of how cooperation on water systems can forge diplomatic ties and promote unity. Remarkably, not long ago, now-hostile Iran relied on Israel to manage its water systems, and access to Israel's water know-how helped to warm China's frosty relations with Israel. Beautifully written, Seth M. Siegel's Let There Be Water is and inspiring account of the vision and sacrifice by a nation and people that have long made water security a top priority. Despite scant natural water resources, a rapidly growing population and economy, and often hostile neighbors, Israel has consistently jumped ahead of the water innovation-curve to assure a dynamic, vital future for itself. Every town, every country, and every reader can benefit from learning what Israel did to overcome daunting challenges and transform itself from a parched land into a water superpower.

This book highlights the search for permanent freshwater agreements between Israel, Palestine, and the western portions of Jordan, and underscores the benefits of shared water management among the three countries. Throughout the book, efforts are made to share transboundary water in ways that are simultaneously physically feasible, ecologically sustainable, and socially equitable. Thanks to the Peace Treaty between Israel and Jordan, the management of shared water resources has been working well, though future relationships are uncertain at present. However, the current arrangements for Israel and Palestine are, at best, inadequate and, in some cases, counterproductive. In closing, the book argues that trilateral agreements on water can and should be concluded now, before seeking to resolve the full range of issues that remain uncertain in a Final Status Agreement between Israel and Palestine.

The work aims at answering the question as to how far discourses on human security are present in Jordan and Israel, if they converge and if political solutions for the issue of water security could be derived. The analysis is based on the assumption that from human security perspective common solutions for urgent problems can be derived more easily than out of a perspective of national security. Yet it is acknowledged that according to a new security perspective different security threats are being identified by relevant actors. An empirical analysis of written statements and utterances of the respective security elites establishes the methodological tool for the identification of human security discourses in Israel and Jordan. Subsequently it is estimated how far water is presented as a matter of national security in Israel and Jordan using the theory of securitization.