CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VIII (2) ContEurVIII2 | Page 89

SHOGHIK TADEVOSYAN
was their way of living. Water was needed to care for their basic needs
properly. Hence, they prayed and dedicated songs and rituals on the
water. Indeed, water had a vital role for the survival of the Palestinians. 20
However, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupted, water acquired a
more symbolic significance for the Palestinians with the connotation of
dominance over them and Israel’s continuous ‘theft’ of water. This will
be discussed later in the text.
Water as a Tool of Domination
The role of water in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be
viewed not only as a chemical element or a natural resource, but it should
be also examined to reveal the various interests of stakeholders on water
resources. This means that the water issue in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict has both natural-geographical and political prerequisites. A large
number of researchers mention the idea that ‘water shortages are not so
much a function of nature as of politics’ in Israeli-Palestinian relations 21
and that Israel uses water as an instrument to dominate and discriminate
against Palestinians. Going further, some authors describe Israel’s
unilateral actions towards Palestinians as ‘water Nakba’ (disaster,
catastrophe). 22
The Six-Day War of 1967 and the occupation of the West Bank,
the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights, completely changed the course of
the conflict. As a result, the main players contending for control of
natural resources changed. Israel controlled all of the water resources in
historic Palestine, including the surface water in the West Bank, and the
aquifers in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Control was followed by pressure from Israel. In addition to
political and economic pressures, Israel’s repressive actions also
manifested themselves in the social, legal, and all aspects of the
Palestinians’ lives. The use of military force by the Israeli authorities
further aggravated the situation and gave Israel the opportunity to freely
formulate its policies towards the use and exploitation of water resources.
As a result, these policies were accompanied by the prohibition of

20 Miriam R. Lowi, Water and Power: The Politics of a Scarce Resource in the Jordan
River Basin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
21 Ralph H. Salmi, “Water, the Red Line: The Independence of Palestinian and Israeli
Water Resources,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 20, no. 1 (1997): 51.
22 Zayneb al-Shalalfeh, Fiona Napier and Eurig Scandrett, “Water Nakba in Palestine:
Sustainable Development Goal 6 versus Israeli Hydro-hegemony,” Local Environment 23,
no. 1 (2017): 117-124.
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