ABSTRACT
Resource geopolitics in the Middle East has been long dominated by one liquid—oil. However, another liquid, water, is recognized as the fundamental political weapon in the region. Throughout the Middle East, all the governments concerned are giving high priority to water policy; investing in water exploration, construction of barrages of various kinds, and development of alternative supplies, particularly through desalination. With both surface and ground fresh water resources either unavailable or approaching exhaustion in many areas, great urgency is attached to the search for alternative sources. The most obvious and pressing geopolitical problems, both actual and potential, are those involving the distribution of surface water. The most intractable water problems are in the basin of the Jordan. The Tigris-Euphrates system is the only basin of the three where there is a marked surplus of water, but owing to present and future developments, there are actual and latent geopolitical problems.
