Rivers of Fire The Conflict over Water in the Middle East by Arnon Soffer. Translated by Murray Rosovky and Nina Copaken. (Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. 320 pages.)

Abstract

Addressing the UN's Second World Water Forum (May 2000), Dr. Kalus
Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program,
took note of the critical importance of water in the search for world peace
and prosperity. He noted, "water is an indicator of poverty [and] an indicator
of environmental stability."
While Toepfer's speech reflects the growing concern over water, Amon
Soffer's Rivers of Fire focuses more closely on the socio-political ramifications
of the scarcity of water in the Middle East, and highlights the
urgency of "international cooperation" regarding the global scarcity of
water. In his conclusion, he points out US strategic interests in suggesting
more involvement of great powers in the problem.
Written at the behest of the Israeli government, Soffer's introduction
immediately raises serious questions for the reader to consider regarding the
growing conflicts over water rights. Whether he answers these questions fully
in the chapters that follow remains an open question for those who contemplate
Rivers of Fire. Soffer asks: Do the region's leaders really perceive that
reality has changed and that a transition to a New Middle East is in order?
May we truly allow ourselves to be misled with illusions of optimism that
sweep all before them? Or should we call out "Wait! Nothing has changed."
Rivers of Fire was originally published in Hebrew (1992) and appears
to shift major blame for the growing conflict over water rights to the Arab ...