Power and Water in the Middle East The Hidden Politics of the Palestinian-Israeli Water Conflict

'Power and Water in the Middle East' provides a powerful new perspective on the Palestinian?Israeli water conflict. Adopting a new approach to understanding water conflict ? hydro-hegemony -the author shows the conflict to be much more deeply entrenched than previously thought and reveals how existing tactics to control water are leading away from peace and towards continued domination and a squandering of this vital resource.Existing approaches tend to play down the negative effects of non-violent water conflict, and what is presented as co-operation between countries often hides an underlying state of conflict between them. The new analytical framework of hydro-hegemony exposes the hidden dynamics of water conflict around the world and yields critical insights in to the Middle East water problem. This important work will interest researchers, professionals and policy makers involved with the politics of the Middle East and with water conflict more generally.

Mark Zeitoun is a water engineer with more than a decade of experience in conflict and post conflict zones, including the Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Chad, and the Republic of Congo.

Illustrations * Acknowledgements * Preface * Water Wars or Water Conflicts? * Understanding Power and Water * An Asymmetrically Distributed Resource * Highly Politicised Hydropolitics * Hard Power – Coercing the Outcome * Bargaining Power – The Joint Water Committee * Ideational Power – Imposing Ideas * Hydraulic Power – Dominance of Production * Israeli Hydro-Hegemony * Appendices * Notes * Bibliography *Index