Q uestioning the W ater ‐W ar P henomenon I n T he J ordan B asin

Since the early to mid-1980s, it has been argued that the scarcity of shared fresh water resources in the Jordan River basin would be a primary issue threat to the region's security. This view is reflected in the rapidly growing volume of academic works dealing with this issue, as well as in the levels of tension manifest in interriparian relations. For the purpose of this article, scarcity means a perceived or known shortage of water resources so as to constitute a factor capable of impeding a state's economic progress. Scarcity of resources enters the domain of interstate relations where one state withholds supply from another to score political objectives by undermining that other's capacity to achieve economic development goals.1 The mere threat to do so might also be sufficient to impair a state's ability to have or resume normal relations (absence of conflict).