FOUR years ago, when Israel announced plans for major investment in desalinating seawater, many in the Middle East heaved a sigh of relief. At last, they thought, Israelis would feel more relaxed about ceding to their Arab neighbours some of the natural fresh water that falls as rain across the region.
Maybe Israel would give Syria back the barren fastness of the Golan Heights, which commands the headwaters of the river Jordan, the source of up to third of Israel鈥檚 water. Maybe it would concede that Palestinians on the West Bank deserve more than the meagre 20 per cent share of the water they are allowed today from aquifers replenished by rainfall on their land. At a recent meeting of environmental scientists, organised in the Negev desert by the Anglo-Israel Association, several Israelis made the same optimistic noises.
But today the signs do not look so good. The Israeli government appears determined that any future state of Palestine should rely heavily on desalinated water (see 鈥淚srael lays claim to Palestine鈥檚 water鈥�). The Israelis want the US government to bankroll a desalination plant, plus the pumps and pipes needed to get the water from the Mediterranean to the West Bank. In return for 鈥渟afe passage鈥� of this water, Palestinians would have to accept that Israel would continue to take most of the rain that falls on the West Bank.
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This is a bum deal. Desalinated seawater is costly even before it has been pumped up mountainsides. Water in wells is very cheap. Even if the US puts up all the capital cost of this new hydrological infrastructure, its purchase would still cripple the Palestinian government and its people 鈥� who in any case surely have a right to the lion鈥檚 share of water that falls on their land. And even if the economics work out, how long would the 鈥渟afe passage鈥� continue in the face of a future conflict?
The truth, as many Israeli hydrologists agree, is that there is enough natural fresh water for all in the region providing it is fairly and frugally shared out. The UN or some other independent broker should be invited in by all sides to decide on fair shares. Then, if Israel or the Palestinians want more water, they can start desalinating.
Desalination is a technology with the potential to defuse water disputes in the Middle East that are at least as destabilising as conflicts over land. But it should not be used as a weapon to create further inequality. That is no route to water peace.