요르단 강 유역의 물 분쟁

Abstract

This article is to analyze the issues of water use controversies of the Jordan River. The Jordan River arises from the high mountain of Hermon and flows through the Sea of Galilee and flow as the boundary of Israel and Jordan. It ends up to the Dead Sea. The basin area of the Jordan River is very dry, and as the river is virtually the only fresh water resources for Israel and Palestine, the river has been an hot political and social issue. The initial endeavor to allocate the water resources to the riparian states failed as the Arab nations refused to accept the existence of Israel. The 1967 war changed the hydro-geopolitics of the area drastically. The war itself at least partially arose from the use of the Jordan River. As Israel occupies the West Bank and the Golan Heights, there are serious tension between Israel and Syria, and Israel and Palestine. Only Jordan has been succesful to resolve their water issues with Israel, but as the Palestine is not a party to the bilateral accord with Israel it is still incomplete. Dispute concerning the use of groundwater between Israel and Palestine is serious. The Palestians argues that Israel violates the general international water course law such as the Helsinki Rules and also violate the 4th Geneva Convention concerning the occupied territory. Legal argument on behalf of Israel is fragile as the Israel settlers use more than 10 times water per capita than the Palestine residents. The articles concludes that the groundwater dispute between Israel and the Palestine and the dispute of the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria should be settled under the ``equitable use`` principle of the Helsinki Rules and 1997 Convention. But, as the water is only one of the many issues of the disputes among the states of the Jordan River, the prospective for peaceful solution is not bright.