Palestinian-Israeli Water Rights Negotiations

In mid-August 2008, 13 Israeli and Palestinian negotiators along with six advisors and mediators came to Annapolis to finalize agreement on water use/rights issues facing the region as it strives to transform conflict into cooperation.

• See pictures of the negotiations.
• Read a press release about the negotiations.

The Peace & Justice Center recruited nationally prominent advisors to assist with the water negotiation. These include:

• as mediator, retired Ambassador John McDonald who represented the U.S. at U.N. conferences under both Presidents Carter and Reagan
• as expert in water economics, Prof. Franklin Fisher, M.I.T. economist and Director of Harvard‚s Mid-East Water Project
• as expert in international water infrastructure, former IBWC Commissioner - engineer John Bernal
• as experts in international and water law, prof. Gabriel Eckstein and Doug Caroom, Esq.

Geneva Initiative representatives include present and former high executives of the Palestinian National Authority and the Israeli government, including the director of the Israeli national water company and the Israeli prime minister's press secretary.
 

ISRAELI - PALESTINIAN WATER ISSUES: A reading list

A. Some geological & political reference materials

1.   Innovative approaches to avoid water wars in Israel, Jordan, and Palestine by U.S. geologist J. David Rogers. http://www.scribd.com/doc/279853
 
2.  Water Scarcity in the Jordan River Basin, by U.S.  Department of State analyst Mélanne Civic.
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0399/ijge/gj-04.htm
 
3.  Definition of Israel's Water Problems by Prof. Dan Zaslavsky. http://www.biu.ac.il/soc/besa/water/zaslavsky.html
 
B. Current Israeli - Palestinian agreements under which water problems persist
 
Texts of all of the following available at http://www.mfa.gov.il

1. Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Interim Agreement) - (1994)
2. Declaration of Principles for Cooperation Among the Core Parties on Water_Related Matters and New and Additional Waters (1996)
3. Joint Israel-Palestinian Call to Protect Water Supply (2001)
4. Water Resources Working Group & Water Data Banks Project via multilateral process
5.Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty Annex II as to water and related matter (1999) - for comparison
 

C. Official negotiation positions of Palestinians
 
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is the government with interacts with the Israelis.  But the political organization which operates the PNA and conducts negotiations remains the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).  
 
The PLO has an excellent website which includes maps, charts, legal documents and proposals for cooperation on the water issue and many other issues:
http://www.nad-plo.org/listing.php?view=nego_permanent_water .
 
D. Some legal and water-trading reference materials for comparison
 
1.  The U.S./Mexico International Boundary and Water Commission:
http://www.ibwc.state.gov  Links on the website include texts of the original 1889 treaty, the current 1944 treaty and various "minute" agreements which have established new water projects of various types.
 
A former U.S. commmissioner, John Bernal, will be a neutral advisor for the water conference.  
 
2. The Australian - intergovernmental "National Water Initiative" -
http://www.nwc.gov.au .  Links on the website include texts of the main national agreement and  various regional water-trading plans.
 

How can you help?

Annapolis Friends Peace and Justice Center is delighted to offer this first update on the Geneva Initiative Water Dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators that took place at Bon Secours Spiritual Center last week. The delegates, advisors, mediators, and organizers agree that we now have a draft model peace agreement on how water could be allocated fairly in the region. With some final tweaking over the next few months, this draft is on a fast track to becoming an annex to the Geneva Accord as an framework for water cooperation in the region. The Geneva Initiative organizations (Palestine and Israel) plan to carry it forward--with a little help from their f(F)riends.

• Click here for the press release.
• Click here for pictures of the dialogue.

We all have heard a call, seen an opportunity to "remove an occasion for war," and responded from our individual gifts and capabilities. We wish to thank each of you, from the bottom of our hearts, for the role you played--in contributing financially, in driving delegates to and from Dulles airport, in taking pictures or recording notes, in holding the process in God's healing Light. There would be no progress toward an agreement on water issues during this time of drought and reckless use without each of us accepting our parts. 

Click here for a fuller accounting of the event. We are not able to display the text of the draft agreement until it has been finalized by the Geneva Initiative and offered to their respective governments for comments. However, we hope to post the text within a few months.

We are deeply gratified that $22,000 of the $32,000 we need to close the financial aspects of this "leap of faith" has come to us through each of you. As the anticipation and excitement of the dialogue ends and the final work to implement it begins, we hope you will continue your support in the ways you are led. We need to remain present with hands and hearts extended so this encouraging draft agreement translates into reality in the lives of Palestinians and Israelis--as cooperative shepherds of scarce water resources.

If you are led to contribute further financially, we would certainly appreciate it and you may do so in two ways:

1.      By check to Annapolis Friends Meeting with the notation, “Water Negotiations,” and mail it to Treasurer, Annapolis Friends Meeting, 351 Dubois Road, Annapolis, MD 21401.

2.      By credit card, you can donate on this website by clicking the donate button below. Alternatively, you can make a check to Annapolis Friends Meeting with the notation, "Water Rights Conference," and mail it to Annapolis Friends Meeting, 351 Dubois Road, Annapolis, MD 21401.