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In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

11/20/08
Pakistan: Learning the Right Lessons from Iraq  —Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.
11/13/08
The View from Gaza  —Taghreed El-Khodary, New York Times journalist in Gaza and Harvard University Nieman Fellow (2005-2006). Interviewed by Middle East Bulletin.
11/04/08
Getting on the Right Track  —Dalia Rabin, chairperson, Rabin Center, and daughter of the late Yitzhak Rabin. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

Keeping Focus on Long-Term Objectives

“[W]hile we do need to have a cooperative approach that involves many of our friends and allies in meeting with the Pakistanis, … as we work out with them a rough division of labor, the U.S., I believe, ought to be taking the lead in addressing the issues in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. And given the difficulty of doing so, I suspect that we will not have a great deal of difficulty in convincing them to allow us to take the lead there. But as we all know, there is a real tension between our short-term tactical aims in trying to capture or kill terrorists across the border and militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and our longer- term counterinsurgency pacification goals. We very much need to be focusing on the end state. What is it that we want this area to look like? ... In that context we need to have a common agenda with the Pakistani government and very much to include the military on counterinsurgency in that area. There needs to be, therefore, a focus on combining military efforts with economic, development and political development in those areas.”
—Robert L. Grenier, managing director and chairman for Global Security Consulting, Kroll, event, “Partnership for Progress: Advancing a New Strategy for Prosperity and Stability in Pakistan and the Region,” Center for American Progress, November 17, 2008

Middle East Analysis

Water and the Conflict

August 10, 2007

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)

1949: Demarcation of the Armistice line at end of 1948 war fails to consider the need for water access, leads to tensions over unilateral water development.

1955: U.S. Special Envoy Eric Johnston produces the “Johnston Plan”, a regional approach to water development. Never officially ratified, the plan was accepted by technical committees and Israeli and Arab governments have generally adhered to its allocations. In the same year, Israel builds the National Water Carrier to divert water from the Jordan River to southern Israel and the Negev desert.

1964: Syria and Jordan begin construction of a dam to divert the flow of waters from the Yarmouk and Banias Rivers to limit the capacities of the National Water Carrier. Tensions over the creation of the National Water Carrier and construction of the dam contribute to the 1967 War.

1967: The 1967 War results in Israel gaining control of the West Bank and the Golan Heights, including two of the three headwaters, and three of the major aquifers of the Jordan River, as well as the Sea of Galilee.

1991: During the Madrid Conference, Israel and Arab representatives recognize the need for joint cooperation on water issues.

1994: Signed on October 26, the Israeli-Jordanian Treaty of Peace call for the ‘rightful allocations’ of the Jordan River, Yarmouk River and Arava ground water, along with the transferring of information, mutual collaboration and establishing a water committee to implement agreement.

1995: Israeli and Palestinian officials conclude the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Article 40 establishes general principles for water and sewage development, identifies areas for mutual cooperation and provides for a joint water committee and joint supervision enforcement teams

1996: Israel, Jordan, and the PLO sign the Declaration of Principles for Cooperation among the Core Parties on Water-Related Matters and New and Additional Waters.
This agreement identifies mutual problems and proposes areas for future cooperation between the three parties.