Communicating the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian water conflict through art: A search for cooperation

Cover, Leah

Communicating the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian water conflict through art: A search for cooperation

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10456/33443

Author(s)

Cover, Leah

Date Issued

April 1, 2010

Abstract

The political and cultural disputes over borders, settlements, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the legitimacy of Israel have plagued the Middle East for more than half a century. Now the scarcity of water is an emerging environmental issue that is exacerbating the political instability and compromising the economic welfare of the region. As the populations of the Middle East increase and the demand for water grows, the below-average rainfall and persistent droughts of the past decade threaten the supply of water for both municipal and agricultural uses. The trans-boundary nature of the water crisis demands that cooperation amongst the Israeli and Arab states is crucial to the survival of the region. Social and environmental concerns of this magnitude must be communicated to the public, and activists are now turning to art as a way to address this and similar issues. This project has examined the role of water in the larger context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the use of visual art in order to increase the understanding on both sides of the conflict and to propose the possibility of water as a point of collaboration between the affected countries. This project sought to answer the questions, “How can art be used as a tool to increase awareness of the complexity of the water conflict between Israelis and Palestinians? And by increasing awareness, can art portray the water crisis as a starting point for cooperation and compromise, rather than for distrust and further disagreement?

Honors

Environmental Science, 2010

First Reader(s)

Bensel, Terrence G.