War over Water (Jordan river)

The "War over Water"
Part of the Water politics in the Jordan River basin and the Arab-Israeli conflict
Date November 1964 – May 1967 Location Jordan Valley River Basin and the Golan Heights Result tensions contributing to the Six-Day War
Belligerents
Israel	Syria  Lebanon
Commanders and leaders
Yitzhak Rabin

The "War over Water" , also the Battle over Water , refers to a series of confrontations between Israel and its Arab neighbors from November 1964 to May 1967 over control of water sources in the Jordan River drainage basin.

The 1949 Armistice Agreements which followed the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, created three demilitarized zones on the Israel-Syria border. The southernmost, and also the largest, stretched from the south-eastern part of the Sea of Galilee eastwards to the Yarmuk River where the borders of Israel, Jordan and Syria converge. The issue of water sharing from the Jordan–Yarmuk system turned out to be a major problem between Israel, Syria and Jordan.

Small scale water-related skirmishes had occurred following the 1949 agreements. In July 1953, Israel began construction of an intake for its National Water Carrier at the Daughters of Jacob Jordan Bridge in the demilitarized zone north of the Sea of Galilee. Syrian artillery units opened fire on the construction site. The United Nations security council majority (excepting the USSR) voted for the resumption of work by Israel. The Israelis then moved the intake to an economically inferior site at the Sea of Galilee.

At 1955 the Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan (Johnston Plan) was accepted by the technical committees of both Israel and the Arab League, but the Arab League Council decided not to ratify the plan on 11 October 1955. According to most observers, including Johnston himself, the Arab non-adoption of the plan was not total rejection. While they failed to approve it politically, yet they seemed determined to adhere to the technical details of the agreement. Moreover, it continued to be taken seriously by Arab leaders.

Though the Unified Plan failed to be ratified, both Jordan and Israel undertook to operate within their allocation limits. Israel completed its National Water Carrier project, which siphoned water from the Sea of Galilee in 1964. The initial diversion capacity of the National Water Carrier, without supplementary booster pumps, was 320 million m³, well within the limits of the Johnston Plan.

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