From LGross@ala-choice.org Wed Oct 08 23:04:22 2008

Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 23:02:03 -0500

The following review appeared in the October 2008 issue of CHOICE.

Zeitoun, Mark. Power and water in the Middle East: the hidden politics of the Palestinian-Israeli water conflict. I.B. Tauris, 2008. 214p bibl index ISBN 9781845114640, $85.00

This very informative volume about hydraulic aspects of the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts elucidates the "asymmetries" and injustices of water distribution between Israel and the occupied territories. Written by a water engineer with extensive experience in other conflict zones, it displays political as well as hydraulic intelligence about the processes of water allocation and exposes the efforts of the international donor community, led by the US, to hide a politics of Israeli hegemony under a fictitious peace process between riparian adversaries. As such, it should be required reading for US policy makers as well as students once the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is resumed after the November 2008 US presidential elections. Zeitoun (London School of Economics and Political Science) argues that water scarcity has technical solutions that the political adversaries seem unwilling to implement as long as the US seems content to push technical solutions without putting equal pressure on the Israelis and Palestinians to implement a just peace. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. -- C. M. Henry, University of Texas at Austin