A nice story I just gotta cite: Another "Resource War" That Fails to Unfold

Story appears in the 16 March issue of the New York Times entitled, ìSide by Side, Palestinians and Israelis Repair a Ruined River.î

A pet theory of many security analysts in the post-Cold War era has been that ever more scarce resources (especially fresh water) will become a frequent source of inter-state conflict. The only problem with this theory is the extreme lack of historical evidence, which doesnít deter many of these advocates, because, as we are constantly told, the world is running out of everythingóand it has been for the last several decades. That such predictions consistently prove false doesnít stop such doom-and-gloomers, who pin a lot of their hopes on ìwater warsî in the very dry Middle East.

Well, this story provides another nail for the coffin of this theory without a cause. A joint environmental effort by Palestinians and Israelis in northern Israel just won a prestigious Australian award. As one judge commented, ìTwo communities at each otherís throats in armed conflict somehow found a collective will to repair a damaged and poisoned river.î Why? As history repeatedly shows, when groups in conflict encounter a dangerous decline in a shared natural resource like water, they consistently put aside their differences to cooperate, disappointing many Pentagon security analysts yet again.