ABSTRACT
Few regions of the planet offer a more varied physiography or a richer mix of ethnicities, religions, languages, societies, cultures and politics than the Middle East. At the same time, no segment of the globe presents its diverse aspects in such an amalgam of conflicts and complexities. Out of this compound, one issue emerges as the most conspicuous, cross-cutting, and problematic: water – or rather its scarcity and rapid diminution in some of the driest sectors of an area where there also happen to exist some of the fiercest. national animosities.
