Water issues have always played a major role in the Middle East and are an important driver of tension between countries in the region. The recently proposed Jordan River Peace Park between Jordan and Israel brings a new perspective to regional water debates, as it addresses tensions by developing solutions for common benefit sharing of both riparians. Jon Martin Trondalen, a well-known facilitator who has chaired numerous multilateral negotiations on water disputes with a special focus on the Middle East, also adopts this view that water is an area for cooperation rather than division.



In his new book "Water and Peace for the People," Trondalen combines his academic knowledge on water conflict issues and their political contexts with his own lessons learned from mediation processes. He takes a closer look at four specific cases: the Golan Heights, the Upper Jordan River basin, the contested waters between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and the Euphrates-Tigris basin. According to Trondalen’s experiences from behind the scenes of water conflict negotiations, common errors include a focus on positions rather than on interests, lacking knowledge on the particular subject to be negotiated—which may lead to false agreements, and limiting options for trade-offs because of lacking knowledge or creativity of the negotiator.



In spite of the highly politicized context, Trondalen allows the reader to develop an unbiased view of the issues by presenting each party’s concerns and positions behind their political rhetoric and by examining the parties’ perceptions of each other’s positions. The author proposes concrete solutions including cost calculation, compensation principles and documentation of the views of the conflicting parties on these options. From his own experience he identifies key factors that could change a gridlocked situation between conflicting water neighbors: the emergence of new substantive information or of new trade-offs between the parties, a changed general political climate and new external power brokers. (Annabelle Houdret)



The publication by Jon Martin Trondalen can be purchased at http://www.earthprint.com/productfocus.php?id=UNESCO0031



Further information on the proposed Jordan River Peace Park is available at http://www.foeme.org/projects.php?ind=123

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, April 2010