Middle Eastern and North African Hydropolitics: From Eddies of Indecision to Emerging International Law
Publisher: Georgetown International Environmental Law Review
Author(s): Elizabeth Burleson
Date: 2006
Topics: Cooperation, Renewable Resources
Countries: Israel, Palestine
The groundwater shared by Israelis and Palestinians is not sufficiently covered by international water law, leaving open the issue of reasonable and equitable water use as it relates to the Middle Eastern and North African peace process. The death of Yasser Arafat, election of Hamas, removal of Saddam Hussein, passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483,1 and conflict in Sudan significantly alter the geopolitics of the region. In 1991, Julio Barberis suggested that international law of transboundary groundwater might follow rules on oil and gas that allocate shares in proportion to the volume of the natural resource underlying each state.2 Recent codification efforts have provided a broader framework with which co-aquifer states can address transboundary natural resources through flexible water use provisions, equitable distribution of water benefits, and strong dispute resolution mechanisms.3 The United Nations International Law Commission (ILC) has taken on the task of codifying shared natural resources provisions for groundwater, oil, and gas. In 2005, the ILC’s third report proposed a Draft Convention on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers4 that seeks to codify established and emerging rules on the use and protection of transboundary groundwater.