438 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies N. 5 / 2015 Israel’s control of the territory also extends to water resources. Indeed, the map of settlements in the West Bank was designed to protect the territory’s water resources, not just to ensure the security of the Israeli border.46 Water resources are scarce and concentrated in the River Jordan which rises in the Golan Heights in the north and flows southwards through the Sea of Galilee before emptying into the Dead Sea. The main water artery starts in the Golan Heights, Syrian territory occupied by Israel in 1967 and in 1973, and regarded by Israel as a strategic region from the perspective of territory and water supply. Israel zealously guards the water resources it secured following confrontations with Syria, Jordan and Lebanon in the conviction that the Jewish People “will make the desert bloom”. One example is Israel’s threat to bomb the “dam of unity”, a joint project of Lebanon and Syria in order to be able to utilise the waters of the Yarmouk River, a tributary of the Jordan River, if it ever materialises. Water scarcity is particularly acute in the West Bank, where Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian interests and demands for water converge. Here and in Gaza the amount of water available per person per year is way below 100 cubic metres (with almost total dependence on groundwater), while in Israel the figure is somewhat below 300 m3 and in Jordan it is around 10047 (a country is considered to have a water shortage if availability is below 1,000 m3 per person per year). This contrasts with the situation of the Israeli settlers in the West Bank, who have significantly more water than the Palestinians.48 The Israelis are allowed to drill for wells to a depth of 800 metres, while the Palestinians are not allowed to go below 120 metres, therefore the salinity levels of the water are much higher. The situation is worse in Gaza, where the economy is based on intensive farming, there is no surface water, an already dense population continues to grow and there is a structural shortage of water, all in addition to varying water prices: higher prices for Palestinians than Israeli setters (who receive subsidies). The pressure on scarce water resources has led to increased contamination of the aquifers, which further exacerbates water shortages and conflict. Having said that, Israel, Palestine and Jordan have maintained a basic level of cooperation in this field.49 46 FAJARDO T. El Agua de Palestina bajo el régimen de ocupación de Israel. In GUTIÉRREZ ESPADA et al., op. cit. 47 JAGERSKORG A. Reparto del agua entre israelís, jordanos y palestinos. Un Mundo de Ciencia, op.cit. 48 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2006, Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. United Nations Development Programme. 2013, p 38 (Spanish version). 49 Kramer A., Wolf A., Carius A., Dabelko G. Managing Water Conflict and Cooperation. Op cit, http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee
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