War over Water (Jordan River)

The War over Water (Hebrew: המלחמה על המים, Ha-Milhama al Ha-Maim), also known as The Battle over Water (Hebrew: הקרב על המים, Ha-Krav al Ha-Maim) refers to a two and a half year long (November 1964 to May 1967) series of border skirmishes and battles - fought between Israel on the one side, and Syria and Lebanon on the other - over the control of the fresh water sources of the Jordan Valley River Basin. Even though small scale water-related skirmishes took place between the parties ever since the 1949 armistice, the major escalation took place in 1964. That year Israel has completed its National Water Carrier Project. Arab states regarded the project as a unilateral attempt by Israel to divert water sources, and in response have decided to finance a joint Syrian-Lebanese-Jordanian effort to launch a Headwater Diversion Plan that would have blocked the flow of water into the Sea of Galilee, sharply reducing the capacity of the Israeli water carrier. Israel declared it would regard such a diversion as an infringement of its sovereign rights. Later that year, when the Arab diversion project took physical shape, Israel has begun launching military operation in order to stop the Arab diversion plans. Israel eventually was able to achieve that goal. The Arab diversion project and Israel's subsequent military attacks on those diversion efforts are regarded as some of the major factors which have led to the 1967 Six-Day War.

Background

Main articles: Water politics in the Middle East, Water politics in the Jordan River basin

References

Bibliography

• Cooley, John, K. (Spring, 1984). "The War over Water". Foreign Policy. 54: 3–26. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Neff, Donald (Summer, 1994). "Israel-Syria: Conflict at the Jordan River, 1949-1967". The Journal of Palestine Studies. 23 (4). {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)