Enclosure of the commons and water wars are inextricably linked issues. It is common knowledge that Israel and its Arab neighbors have long been in conflict. However, lesser known are that the problems are due less to religious differences than to the stress of water scarcity. Of the 37 military conflicts that have taken place over water since 1950, 32 of them have taken place in the Middle East and 30 of them have involved Israel and its neighbors. In the National Geographic article “Parting the Waters”, the author, Don Belt explains that water has always been a source of conflict in the Middle East but it has become even worse in the area around the Jordan River due to a six-year drought and a steadily increasing population. The Jordan River is the major source of water for Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories. In the past five decades, the Jordan River has decreased by 90 per cent and the southern portion of the Jordan River has turned into a polluted, brackish trickle. This is because many of its tributaries upstream, like the Sea of Galilee and the Yarmuk River, are being diverted.

In an interview about her book Earth Democracy, Vandana Shiva discusses the political movement and environmental theory of the same name. In this book, Shiva explains the relationship between earth democracy and corporate globalization. “Earth Democracy” is a set of principles based on inclusion, non-violence, reclaiming the commons, and freely and fairing sharing natural resources. Shiva argues that the objective of corporate globalization, trying to own and privatize natural resources, is against nature. The conflict between Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories is a prime example of corporate globalization at work. Another important point of Shiva’s in Earth Democracy is the commoditization of natural resources, like water, destroys democracy. She states, “When economic dictatorship is grafted onto representative, electoral democracy, a toxic growth of religious fundamentalism and right-wing extremism is the result. (p. 6)” This rise in religious fundamentalism and right-wing extremism has added fuel to the fire of water wars. In the aforementioned article, we can see how enclosure of the commons and water wars are inextricably linked.

Israel has much control over the water supply in the West Bank because the area has been under its military rule since 1967. Israel’s national water authority, Mekorot, makes it difficult for many Palestinians to have adequate access to water because much of the water from underground aquifers gets diverted into Israel. Israelis enjoy water parks, cultivate the water-demanding banana plant, and irrigate miles of agriculture while Palestinians must purchase West Bank water that in reality comes from the land underneath their feet. Agriculture serves as the main source of water use around the world and this area of the Middle East is no exception. Israel created the “National Water Carrier” in 1964 to carry water to its farms and cities. This body of water transports water from the Sea of Galilee to Tel Aviv and farms in the Nagev desert.

Corporate globalization’s effects on the earth include reduction of biodiversity, scarcity of natural resources, destruction of species, and ultimately planetary death. Its effects on people include a rising tide of fundamentalist views, extremism, terrorism, violence against women, ethnic cleansing, and religious intolerance. Humans and the environment need to be reconnected as related and interdependent. In order to prevent further conflicts over natural resources, like the water wars in the Middle East, we must begin to apply sustainability to our economic and agricultural practices. We need to stop thinking of “nature” as only the natural environment without humans in it and start designing systems that take both into account. In Parting the Waters, a local environmental nonprofit called Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOMED) tried to mitigate the differences between Israelis and Palestinians by addressing both the environmental and the social aspects of the problem. First, they worked to improve water quality for both parties by raising awareness through their grassroots initiative, Good Water Neighbors.

If cooperation can be achieved at the community level, sustainable water management methods can gain support. Bottom-up pressure from grassroots organizations like Good Water Neighbors forces governments to take action to redesign their environmental and diplomatic strategies. It is bottom-up initiatives like Good Water Neighbors that provides the necessary impetus for governments to change their policies in favor of more sustainable, democractic methods.

jyoung16@masonlive.gmu.edu