Multinational and National Competition for Water in the Middle East: Towards the Deepening Crisis

This brief paper introduces the highly sensitive and contentious subject of international competition over water resources within the Middle East. Attention is directed to the general aridity of the Middle East, the multinational nature of the regionʹs three major river basins—the Jordan, the Tigris-Euphrates and the Nile, the lack of regulatory authority to mediate upon water-resource allocations, and the mounting internecine animosities between the various states within the region. The potential for major larger-scale conflict over water in the Middle East is seen to be increasing.