Opinion Columnist/JPost..
09 December '13..
On December 9, an agreement was signed in Washington between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority for a monumental water-sharing project that has been lauded as an example of peacemaking and cooperation. On the face of it, this is a positive step forward. Jordan, whose relations with Israel have been frosty of late, has signed onto building pipelines and infrastructure, and long-term water commitments with the Israelis. The Palestinians are being brought in as junior partners as well. A big step forward for constructive dialogue, and economic peace.
But let’s put aside the symbolic, fuzzy, cuddly aspect of this and look at the deal itself.
The deal involves several inter-related water-sharing initiatives the exact details of which appear to have not been ironed out completely. The broad strokes are that Jordan will build a desalination plant near Akaba, and some of the potable water it produces there will go to Israel. In return, Israel is to provide the Jordanians and PA with water from the Kinneret. In addition, a pipeline is to be built, in Jordan, that will transport water from the Red Sea’s Gulf of Akaba to the Dead Sea to combat the Dead Sea’s declining water level.
The details of exactly how much water is going where are not clear but according to the various reports around 200 million cubic meters will be piped out of the Red Sea, some 80 million of which are to be desalinated and divided between Israel and Jordan. Time magazine says “most of this water” will be going to Israel, but actually it seems like only up to 60 percent of it will.
Meanwhile Israel will increase the supply of water it provides Jordan from the Kinneret from 50 million cubic meters to upwards of 80 million (or 100 million if Time’s report is to be believed).
The Palestinians, whose sole contribution to the deal is to sign it, receive an addition 20 million cubic meters of water from the Kinneret (currently they receive 52 million).
Basically the story in a nutshell is that the Kinneret, which already suffers from low water levels, will be drained further to increase the PA and Jordan’s haul of Israeli water by 60%, so that the Jordanians can get a desalination plant in Akaba and Israel can then share some water from that plant and some water will be dumped into the Dead Sea, which benefits both Jordan and Israel.
IF WE were to read a best-selling book on business negotiation, like Roger Fisher’s Getting to Yes, Jim Thomas’s Negotiate to Win or Stuart Diamond’s Getting More we could characterize this deal as “negotiating to lose” or “getting less.” Yes, the Israeli negotiator Energy Minister Silvan Shalom did “get to yes” in what he called a “historic agreement,” but it isn’t clear what “yes” brings Israel.
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