Drinking Water and Irrigation Water Shortages in the Middle East

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One would think there are enough conflicts to be had in the Middle East. The area is simply a breeding ground for turmoil, and has been for centuries. Of the many conflicts that revolve around the areas history, politics, religion, territory or ethnicity, one more can be added to the group: water. These societies all need water, but not all have the same resources to get to that water. What is the hotbed of vice in this situation is only a few of the countries in the Middle East have total control over their own water, leaving most of the others to depend on the graces of those few countries to manage their water magnanimously enough to supply them with what they need. With Turkey and Israel in control of much of the Middle Eastern water, the other countries like Iraq, Syria, and even Palestine have started to get heated up due to the desert climate, shrinking aquifers, staggering rates of population growth, and tradition of settling differences by fighting (Smith). Turkey, with its large supply of fresh water, is trying to be the initiator of peace by creating plans to aid countries in need of water, but while helping themselves to the greatest extant that they possibly can as well. Turkeys plans for internal growth and international aid are not as well-received as it would like them to be.

The two rivers that are attributed with the cradle of civilization, the Tigris and Euphrates, are being divided up by the occupying nations of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey; and this division is causing conflicts. A major issue in the Middle East today is the availability of water; and most of all that means it is an issue of who controls that water, because while the Middle East has three percent of the worlds population, it posses...

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...998. http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/aln44/kaya.html

Smith, Donald. Water and Peace in the Middle East. National Geographic News.

July 14, 2000.http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2000/07/0714_water.html

News; Daily Report. Israel, Turkey To Cooperate in Projects in Iraq, Make Progress on GAP Project. World News Connection. NTIS, US Dept. of Commerce. July 10, 2003 http://toolkit.dialog.com/intranet/cgi/presentSTLYE=739...

Turkish Daily News: Israeli Minister Annouces Agreement on Amount, Timing of Water Deal. Oct. 4, 2003. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document_m=0..

Consulate, US, Adama-Turkey. GAP Overview. www.usconadana.org.tr/gap2.htm

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Water: fuel for conflict in the Middle East. (Arab-American Activism). July-August, 2003 v22 i6 p66(1) http://web1.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/495...

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