Real and ideal institutional frameworks for managing the common arab-israeli water resources

The Oslo A and B agreements of September 1993 and September 1995 were the beginning of a process aimed at a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Israeli-Jordanian Treaty of 1994 addresses issues of water sharing between the two parties. In 1995, Israel and the Palestinians signed an Agreement on Water and Sewage as part of their Interim Agreement. In February 1996, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians agreed to a “Declaration of Principles for Joint Development of Water Resources.” The purpose of this paper is to compare the components of the two Agreements with an “ideal” institution for management of shared water resources. The “ideal” institution was formulated by 23 water experts who were interviewed on this issue. The main finding is that in most respects, expert opinions did not differ significantly from the Israeli-Jordanian Treaty of Peace and the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement.