Achieving Sustainable Environmental Peace in Asymmetric Transboundary Water Conflicts – Human Rights-Based Approach to Water Cooperation in the Israel-Palestine Case

Abstract: As a result of the rapid population growth, the increasing economic interests and the global climate crisis, disputes over freshwater resources become more frequent and severe. Although many States pursue environmental cooperation to avoid or resolve water conflicts, such cooperation agreements often suffer from a weak political will to implement just cooperation mechanisms. This is particularly the case in transboundary water disputes that are characterized by asymmetric power relations between the riparian states. In these settings, the more powerful State dominates the peace negotiations which are often the starting point for future interstate cooperation. The consequences are grave violations of the human right to water and other water-related socio-economic rights. It is therefore imperative to “re-hydrate” an issue which has already been largely discussed in the literature of environmental peacebuilding. While international peacebuilding practices follow a rational, technical approach that aims at resolving water conflicts by eliminating water scarcity as such, this paper is an attempt to shed more light on the human rights-based approach as a potential long-term strategy for conflict resolution. For this purpose, the effectiveness of the human rights-based approach in eliminating the political root causes of transboundary water conflicts will be examined in the context of the Israel-Palestine case. The aim is to compare both peacebuilding approaches in transboundary settings and to clarify whether the human rights law mechanisms can contribute to the resolution of conflicts by granting protection for individuals and their right to water.