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Arid Lands Problem

You have been selected by an International Court of Justice to act as a Court appointed master to settle a dispute among three nations and four parties to a dispute over water resources. (in Hardin 46-47, 128-137; Dunlop & Caldwell, Hundley ch. 6, 7 & 8; )

The facts in the case are as follows. In 1973 Shiite Muslim sponsored guerrillas attacked an Israeli Army base within Israel from across the Lebanese border. In retaliation the Israeli -- Likud government -- launched a wholesale invasion of Lebanon culminating in the seizure of southern Beirut and most of the Litani river.

The Litani river flows south to west from the high mountains of Lebanon down to the Mediterranean Sea just north of the Israeli border. It supplies water to half of the 2.5 million citizens of Lebanon. Together with the headwaters of the Jordan River, the Litani River is the sole source of surface water for the arid borderlands of southern Lebanon.

Country	Population	years to Double	T. Fert. rate	GNP/Cap. '92	% Urban
Lebanon	2.5	32	4	$3,350.00	78
Israel	4.2	41	3.1	$13,220.00	87
Jordan	3.5	19	7.3	$1,120.00	60
Palestinians	1.9	21	5.2		90
Regional	110	26	5.5	$4,110.00	53

Snows on the mountains in winter sink into the porous sandy soil and form a substantial 350 mile long underground source of water lying beneath the deserts of Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Arabia, and Egypt. This aquifer is one reason that the 10,000 year old city of Jericho was founded in neolithic times & has been occupied ever since.

Since the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon the waters of the Litani River and the headwaters of the Jordan River were partially redirected into the Sea of Galilee for both irrigation of crop land (fruit trees and vegetables) and generation of electricity for the cities of Israel & communities of the Palestinians. The extensive grazing lands of Israel belonged since before the last century to Muslim & Christian Palestinian Arabs who once raised flocks of goats and herds of sheep and camels for the caravan trade. These land-owners contend “Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas,” as law. (See prior appropraition)

The dispute is between the land holding Palestinians and the Israeli government. The Israeli water commission wants to pump the underground aquifer to supply the agricultural needs of drip irrigated orchards and farms. The rate of extraction planned will exceed the ability of the aquifer to be resupplied since much of the deep water is geologically old in origin. Many herders in Lebanon and Jordan have customarily relied on wells to supply their flocks & homesteads. They have joined the Palestinian argument by taking the claim to an international tribunal.

How will you decide to settle this dispute? Will you use ex ante or ex post facto rules?

Arid Lands Problem
Middle Eastern boundaries