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35 Harv. Int'l. L. J. 565 (1994)
The Legal Status of Israel's Water Policies in the Occupied Territories

handle is hein.journals/hilj35 and id is 571 raw text is: VOLUME 35, NUMBER 2, SPRING 1994 The Legal Status of Israel's Water Policies in the Occupied Territories Harold Dichter* INTRODUCTION The September 1993 framework agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization inaugurated a new era of negotiation and compromise in the Middle East. Through subsequent discussions the two parties have attempted to resolve the many issues, chiefly concerning security and the extent of national sovereignty of Israel and the proposed Palestinian entities, that continue to separate them. These negotiations, however, have not addressed in detail the control of the water resources of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.' Since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip in June 1967, critics have alleged that the nation's occupation policies contravened the international law of bel- ligerent occupation. More specifically, some commentators have criti- cized Israel's occupation policy because of its deleterious effect on the economies of the occupied territories.2 Of the economic issues impli- cated by the negotiations, the issue of water rights is potentially the most critical, and its resolution may have a great effect on the possi- bility of an eventual settlement of the overall conflict.- In the Middle East, water has long been a source of conflict among the parties to the Arab-Israeli dispute. A region of semi-arid nations that nonetheless depends heavily on agriculture, the Middle East, especially the area of British mandate Palestine, will face severe water shortages in the coming years. Control of water resources thus assumes *J.D., Harvard Law School, 1994. 1. Since the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, Israel, its Arab neighbors, and various other world powers including the United States, the European Community, and Japan have been participating in multilateral negotiations over the region's water issues. Norman Kempster, Giving Peace a Chance, -The Payment Plan for Peace, L.A. Ties, Sept. 14, 1993, at 7. Yet these talks have made little progress. Alan Cowell, Battle is Brewing Over Water For Mideast, This Could be Biggest Hurdle to Peace, MIzas HERALD, Oct. 12, 1993, at 5A. The September 13 Agreement deals very generally with the issues of contention, calling for the equitable utilization of joint water resources. Elliot Diringer, Where Water and Land Are One, Arabs and Isradis Agree They Muat Share, Disagre on How, S.E CHRON., Oct. 14, 1993, at Al. 2. See generally RIcHARD T. DRURY & ROBERT C. WINN, PLOWSHARES AND SWORDS: THE ECONOMICS OF OCCUPATION IN THE WEST BANK (1992).

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