Comment on “Analysis of extreme rainfall trend and mapping of the Wadi pluvial flood in the Gaza coastal plain of Palestine”

Nathaniel Bergman, Joel Roskin, Noam Greenbaum, Ofer Sholker, Udi Galilee

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

The article by Al-Najjar et al. (2022a) possesses abundant flaws in geopolitical, geographical and hydrological contexts. The paper ignores a vast body of scientific literature about the study region of the Negev Desert, Israel, in general, and Nahal Besor (Wadi Gaza) in particular. The paper’s methodology lacks data collection from the field. These gaps and flaws lead to erroneous and geopolitically slandered research conclusions. Nahal Besor is a large transboundary ephemeral river shared between Israel, the West Bank (Palestinian and Israeli territories) in the northeast, and finally, its western outlet into the Mediterranean Sea is in the Gaza Strip. Despite the current political ordeal between the two nations to accurately portray and model the segment of the river in the downstream coastal plain of Gaza, it is crucial to use the data of upstream Israeli floods that in some events reach the Strip. In this comment, we utilize some of the main flaws of Al-Najjar et al. (2022a) to demonstrate that how the hypothesized potential flood geohazard of Gaza can be significantly reduced by binational and regional cooperation such as using upbasin bank-side reservoirs in the northwestern Negev, Israel.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4333-4340
Number of pages8
JournalActa Geophysica
Volume72
Issue number6
DOIs
StateAccepted/In press - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences 2024. corrected publication 2024.

Keywords

  • Flood volumes
  • Floods
  • Israel
  • Nahal Besor and Wadi-Gaza
  • Peak discharges
  • Return periods
  • West Bank and Gaza Strip

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics

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