The “Hidden Variable”: Water in the Israeli-Palestinian Question

Titolo Rivista WELFARE E ERGONOMIA
Autori/Curatori Desirée A.L. Quagliarotti
Anno di pubblicazione 2026 Fascicolo 2026/1
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 25 P. 79-103 Dimensione file 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.

Il conflitto israelo-palestinese, pur radicato in lasciti coloniali, divisioni ideologiche e dispute territoriali, si sviluppa anche lungo assi meno visibili ma altrettanto decisivi: la gestione e il controllo delle risorse naturali. Tra queste, l’acqua emerge come una risorsa vitale e scarsa, la cui importanza va ben oltre la mera necessità fisica. Questo articolo esplora l’acqua non soltanto come risorsa, ma come variabile endogena nell’equazione israelo-palestinese, un agente attivo che modella sovranità, dipendenza e asimmetria tra stati e comunità. Combinando prospettive storiche, geografiche, geopolitiche e idropolitiche, lo studio sfida le interpretazioni lineari o binarie del conflitto. Attraverso casi concreti, come le acque sotterranee nella Cis-giordania, la gestione del Giordano e la crisi dell’acquifero costiero di Gaza, questo studio dimostra come le infrastrutture idrauliche, le politiche di allocazione e i regimi di accesso siano stati strumentalizzati per esercitare leva strategica e controllo territoriale, e come l’acqua costituisca da sempre un vincolo fondamentale per la tanto auspicata soluzione a due Stati (due popoli, due Stati). In ultima istanza, l’articolo propone di spostare l’analisi da un paradigma puramente geopolitico a uno geoeconomico, che promuova l’innovazione politica e quadri collaborativi volti alla de-escalation e alla stabilità regionale a lungo termine. In tale prospettiva, lo studio esamina come iniziative geoeconomiche su larga scala, come il Corridoio Economico India-Medio Oriente-Europa (IMEC), possano fungere da catalizzatori positivi per lo sviluppo economico, la cooperazione infrastrutturale e la sicurezza regionale, in particolare se la governance idrica verrà integrata tra le loro priorità strategiche.

Parole chiave:questione israelo-palestinese; acqua; idropolitica; soluzione due stati; IMEC Triangolo della Pace.

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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