A PROPOSAL FOR AN EQUITABLE RESOLUTION TO THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE ISRAELIS AND THE PALESTINIANS OVER THE SHARED WATER RESOURCES OF THE MOUNTAIN AQUIFER.

• Author: Shuval, Hillel I.

INTRODUCTION

IN THE PRESENT POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT and advanced stages in the search for a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after the signing of the Oslo agreement of 1993 and the Sharm al-Sheikh agreement of 1999, some have claimed that the disputes over shared water resources can become a major roadblock in the final stages of the path of peace. In fact, some of the major opponents in Israel to reaching an accommodation with the Palestinians, based on the principal of territorial compromise and the establishment of an independent Palestinian entity or state, use the fear of threats to Israel's water resources and Israel's "water security" as one of their main emotion laden arguments against reaching an accommodation.

On the other hand, a just and equitable solution to the severe water problems faced by both sides, which will bring social and economic benefits to all, can provide a major impetus to the peace process (Shuval, 1992). It is the goal of this paper to analyze the developments in recent years towards possible approaches to a just resolution of this problem, which can meet the legitimate needs of both Israelis and the Palestinians.

One of the main issues under dispute is the shared use of the mountain aquifer, the major portion of the recharge area of which lies under the occupied territories in the West Bank but which flow naturally into Israeli territory both to the northeast and to the west. Historically, major portions of the ground water of the mountain aquifer have been utilized by early Jewish farmers who settled in Palestine during the period of Turkish rule before 1918 and then under the British Mandate going back some 60-80 years (Blass, 1960). This intensive development of the aquifer continued after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, which was based on the decision of the United Nations in 1947.

In essence, Israel was utilizing a major portion of the safe yield of the western and northeastern sectors of the mountain aquifer, through the full development of the springs, rivers and wells long before the occupation of the West Bank by Israel in 1967. Thus, Israel bases its claims for the continued utilization of these waters on one of the cardinal principles of international water law-prior historic use and the prevention of significant damage that would result from the loss of their current water resources which are fully used to meet vital Israeli economic and human needs (Caponera, 1992).

The Palestinians, on the other hand, base their claims on these very same waters, which arise mainly as rainfall over the areas populated mainly by the Palestinians and now partially under the control and rule of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank with equal determination, on the principles of international law which call for equitable sharing of international trans-boundary water resources as well as on hydrological and geographic considerations and demands for the recognition of their historic national water rights which they feel belongs to the land in which they live, no less than their current urgent human and social needs. There are also serious questions as to the water resources needs of Gaza, which requires an urgent solution, but they will only be dealt with peripherally in this paper.

On the assumption that as an out-come of the Oslo peace process which has been accepted both by the current Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority some form of Palestinian State or autonomous entity will evolve in stages in all or part of the occupied territories, it is apparent that the mountain aquifer will be considered under international law as a shared body of trans-boundary groundwater (Caponera, 1992) with claims and counter claims by both sides as to its future utilization and control, which must be resolved if a peace agreement is to be achieved. Even many of those in Israel who oppose the establishment of a Palestinian State or autonomy based on a territorial compromise, recognize that the water needs of the Palestinian population of the occupied territories, as it grows and develops will essentially be the same regardless of the nature of the political solution and will have to be met from the same shared pool of water resources.

THE MOUNTAIN AQUIFER

The mountain aquifer covers the central area of the occupied territories on both sides of what are called in Israel the Judaean and Samarian Mountain range and extends generally from the Jezreal Valley (near Afula) in the North to the Beersheba Valley in the South and from the foot hills of the Judean Mountains near the Mediterranean in the West to the Jordan River in the East (See Figure 1). The mountain aquifer is mainly of karstic limestone/dolamite formations with permeable recharge areas mostly along the upper mountain slopes and ridges at levels above 500 meters above sea level. Most of the exploitation of the aquifer is by natural springs and artesian wells drilled in the confined areas of the aquifer on the lower slopes of the Samarian and Judaean Mountain range below the elevation of 500 m largely within the borders of Israel (Gvirtzman, 1994). The mountain aquifer can be divided schematically into three general zones. The Western (Yarkon-Taninim), the northeastern (Schem/NablusGilboa) and the easte rn aquifers as show in Figure 1. The Western aquifer which flows towards the Mediterranean Sea to its historic natural outlets at the Rosh Ha'Ayin (Ras el Ein) Springs which fed the Yarkon River (El Uja) near Tel Aviv/Jaffa in the south and the Tanninim Springs and river near Hadera in the north, is called the Yarkon-Taninim aquifer in Israel. This aquifer has an estimated mean average safe yield of about 350-360 million cubic meters/year (MCM/Yr) including some 40 MCM/Yr of brackish water, having more than 1000 mg/I of total dissolved solids (Goldberger, 1992). A detailed and accurate inventory of the historic use of the aquifer is beyond the scope of this paper, however some qualitative descriptions of past use are presented. The early use of the aquifer by the Palestinian Arab population was limited to a part of the flow of springs such as those at Rosh Ha-Ayin and the Tanninim, as well as some deep traditional dug wells in the Qualqiliya and Tulkarim areas estimated at some 25-35 million cubic meter/year (MCM./Yr) utilizing less than 10 percent of the potential yield of the aquifer.

The Palestinian Arab farmers, villages and towns were mainly poor and did not have any organized framework or the financial resources to develop the natural water resources of the region; as a result most of the water potential was left untouched. Before 1948 few Palestinian villages had developed central water supply systems supplying piped water to the homes. Little was done in that direction during the years 1948 to 1967 under the Jordanian administration of the area. The fact that the areas surrounding the natural spring outlet of the Western Aquifer and North Eastern Aquifer were well known for their malarious swamps provides historic evidence that at the beginning of this century most of the water went unutilized.

The British Mandatory Government granted Pinchas Rutenberg, a Jewish engineer, an exclusive concession for the use of the waters of the Yarkon River in 1920. The intensive exploitation of this aquifer initiated by the early Jewish farmers some 80 years ago, starting in the 1920s, included pumping from the Yarkon River to irrigate extensive orange groves in the area between Tel Aviv and Petach Tikva and by numerous drilled wells in the Hadera area (Blass, 1960).

The British. Mandatory Government also tapped the Rash Ha'Ayin Springs as the source of the water supply for Jerusalem, the majority of the population of which was Jewish. Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Jewish farmers were already utilizing a significant portion of the safe yield from the springs, rivers and deep wells, while the remainder of the aquifer's potential was developed rapidly, mainly by Israel, within the boundaries of State of Israel in the period of 1948-1965. The main Israeli water project utilizing the aquifer was the Yarkon-Negev Pipeline completed in 1954 which pumped some 200 MCM/yr, which is essentially the total flow of the Rosh Ha'Ayin Springs. Today the aquifer is tapped by about 300 hundred wells located to the west of the "green line," that is, within the boundaries of Israel. Since the occupation of the West Bank, Israel has dug some wells in the Western Aquifer for new Israel settlements over the green line in West Bank, areas formerly administered by Jo rdan. It is questionable if Israel can claim prior historic use in the case of such wells. The exact amount of water pumped by these wells is not published by the Israeli authorities.

From the engineering and hydrological point of view the most appropriate place to tap the aquifer is over the deeper confined artesian areas on the foot hills and lower slopes of the mountains towards the Mediterranean Sea, the major portion of which is within Israel. While it is technically possible to drill deep wells to tap the thinner non-confined zones of the aquifer from the mountain top areas within the West Bank, the wells required must be deeper and their yields are lower, thus the potential withdrawal of water from the Western Aquifer from within the West Bank is more limited and more expensive than pumping from wells in Israel near the coastal plain.

The North Eastern Aquifer, called in Israel, the Schem-Gilboa Aquifer, starting near Schem (Nablus) flows towards the Gilbon Mountains and Jezreal and Bet Shean Valleys to the north-east. The historic natural drainage outlets, of what is described by Israeli hydrologists as the Bet-Shean-Harod multiple aquifer system, are the Ein Harod and Bet Shean springs. Some springs and wells have been utilized historically by the local Palestinian villagers, while a portion of its flow was utilized by...