The “Hidden Variable”: Water in the Israeli-Palestinian Question
Journal title WELFARE E ERGONOMIA
Author/s Desirée A.L. Quagliarotti
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2026/1
Language English Pages 25 P. 79-103 File size 268 KB
DOI 10.3280/WE2026-001005
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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though historically grounded in colonial legacies, ideological divisions, and territorial disputes, also unfolds along less visible yet equally decisive axes: the management and control of natural resources. Chief among these is water, a vital and scarce commodity in the region, whose significance extends far beyond its physical necessity. This article explores water not merely as a resource, but as an endogenous variable in the Israeli-Palestinian equation, an active agent shaping sovereignty, dependency, and asymmetry across borders and within communities. By combining insights from history, geography, geopolitics, and hydropolitics, the study challenges linear or binary interpretations of the conflict. It traces specific case studies, such as the aquifers in the West Bank, the River Jordan’s allocation, and infrastructure access in Gaza, to show how water infrastructure, allocation policies, and access regimes have been instrumentalized as tools of strategic leverage and territorial control, and how water has always represented a constraint on the much-aspired two-state solution. Ultimately, the article advocates for reframing the analysis from a purely geopolitical to a geoeconomic paradigm, one that inspires policy innovation and collaborative frameworks aimed at de-escalation and long-term regional stability. In this light, the study examines how large-scale geoeconomic initiatives such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), launched in 2023, may serve as positive catalysts for economic development, enhanced infrastructure cooperation, and regional security - particularly if water governance is integrated among their strategic priorities.
Keywords: Israeli-Palestinian question; water; hydropolitics; two-state solution; IMEC Peace Triangle.
Desirée A.L. Quagliarotti, The “Hidden Variable”: Water in the Israeli-Palestinian Question in "WELFARE E ERGONOMIA" 1/2026, pp 79-103, DOI: 10.3280/WE2026-001005