|
|
Article: A comparative analysis of the Israeli and Arab water law traditions and insights for modern water sharing agreements.
- Article from:
- Denver Journal of International Law and Policy
- Article date:
- March 22, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 University of Denver. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
INTRODUCTION
Rules of water use among early Jewish tribes date back as far as 3000 B.C.E. when Semetic groups settled at Ur in Mesopotamia.(1) Water,(2) a natural resource critical to all life and to human, social, economic, and industrial development, is scarce in the arid Middle East. The main sources of freshwater in this region include the Jordan and Yarmouk Rivers, and a number of underground aquifers, all of which have had to be shared by various communities with different religious, cultural and, in modern times, national identities. Yet, as stated by scholar Leif Ohlsson, "A river does not know any boundaries,"(3) and a river or other water source that ...