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Overview
In a never-ending battle to match population growth with food and energy production, the countries of the Middle East have been frenziedly developing water resources, including international rivers and groundwate, without considering their neighbors' needs. The inevitable result has been more frequent and increasingly bitter conflicts. At the same time, a halting Arab-Israeli peace process spurred by the collapse of the Soviet Union continues. Are we indeed entering a new era in a new Middle East? Do the region's leaders understand that reality has changed and that a transition is inevitable? Focusing on international rivers and ground water in the region, this timely study provides thoughtful_if pessimistic_answers to these questions. Encompassing all water sources in the Middle East, Arnon Soffer thoroughly explores the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, Jordan, Orontes, and Litani Rivers, as well as international groundwater. He also weighs the implications of going to war over water and such unconventional solutions to the water shortage as desalination and importation.
Synopsis
In a never-ending battle to match population growth with food and energy production, the countries of the Middle East have been frenziedly developing water resources without considering their neighbors' needs. The inevitable result has been more frequent and increasingly bitter conflicts. At the same time, a halting Arab-Israeli peace process continues. Are we indeed entering a new era in a new Middle East? Focusing on international rivers and ground water, this timely study provides thoughtful_if pessimistic_answers to this question. Examining each water source in the Middle East, Soffer also weighs the implications of going to war over water and such unconventional solutions to the water shortage as desalination and importation.
Booknews
The bulk of this volume is dedicated to explicating the underlying causes of conflict over water sources in the nations of the Middle East. Rivers under consideration include the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, Orontes, Jordan, and Litani rivers. Also looked at is international groundwater disagreements in the region. After this discussion Soffer (geography, U. of Haifa) proposes a number of solutions towards easing conflict over these resources. Translated from the Hebrew work . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Editorials
American Journal of Islamic Social Studies
Ground breaking work... Soffer's work still remains one of the most extensive examinations of the crisis of water in the Middle East.International Journal Of Middle East Studies
A comprehensive study covering the geo-politics of water conflict in the Middle East. Rivers of Fire is an important and well-written book that should be read by anyone interested in water and environmental problems in the Middle East and by those interested in the international politics of the region.Highlights the complexity of water issues in the region . . . provides a useful introduction to the elements of water scarcity that mark, and will continue to shape, the Middle East, whatever the political and environmental fortunes of the region may be.
— Shaul Cohen, University of Oregon
The book's greatest strength is that it provides five beautifully crafted regional hydro- and political geographies. . . . The book's greatest offering to the North American reader is its capacity for modeling. Conflicts among Middle Eastern nation-states sharing the Nile or the Tigris-Euphrates, for example, serve as fine counterparts to conflicts among the several federal states and provinces sharing the waters of the Colorado, the Columbia, or the Rio Grande.
The bulk of this volume is dedicated to explicating the underlying causes of conflict over water sources in the nations of the Middle East. Rivers under consideration include the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, Orontes, Jordan, and Litani rivers. Also looked at is international groundwater disagreements in the region. After this discussion Soffer (geography, U. of Haifa) proposes a number of solutions towards easing conflict over these resources. Translated from the Hebrew work . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)