Rivers of Fire

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 ...