When the Mongols raided Mesopotamia (now Iraq), they caused significant environmental damage by destroying crops, livestock, and villages. They also purposely demolished the main irrigation systems of the Tigris River. Their motive was evidently to disrupt agriculture and undermine the livelihoods of farmers. However, at that time, few would have considered war to be an environmental crime.
Eight centuries later, in 1991, a coalition of 34 countries mobilised thousands of tanks and war machines in the Gulf area to fight Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait. The pulverised desert surfaces created favourable conditions for dust pollution, leading to more frequent episodes of dust storms in the region. During Operation Desert Storm, the coalition also bombed oil facilities, resulting in spills of 6 to 8 million barrels of crude oil. This gruesome act culminated in the deaths of over 30,000 marine birds. Worse still, this bombardment also poisoned Iraqi water supplies, violating the Geneva Protocol, which prohibited the deliberate starvation of civilians.
In a tit-for-tat retaliation, the Iraqis set ablaze over 730 oil wells and pipelines. Not only did the fire take eight months to extinguish, but it also released black carbon soot into the atmosphere, affecting regions well beyond the Middle East. Some parts of Japan, for instance, had to endure black snow for a week during the First Gulf War.
Thus, the environment and natural resources are an integral part of war, often serving as a target and, at times, as a weapon. The sobering lesson is that regardless of which side prevails, there is ultimately one loser in every war – the environment.
Less conspicuous to many is when the environment is subtly weaponised to oppress the weak without any bellicose action. The plight of the Palestinians is a showcase of how water resources are wielded as a natural weapon to reinforce Israeli hegemony. Contrary to popular belief, the Palestinians' water shortage is not a result of geographical or climatic misfortune. Rather, it is a consequence of Israeli occupation policies.
Shortly after the West Bank was occupied in 1967, Israel, through Military Order No. 2, declared all water resources to be state property. This military order denies Palestinians any access to or use of the Jordan River system, the only surface water resource in the West Bank. Today, all water used by Palestinians in the region is sourced from the Mountain Aquifer, an underground resource shared with the Israelis.
Far from practicing equitable sharing, Israel exercises monopoly. It controls the drilling of new wells through a permit system. For existing wells, Israel enforces fixed pumping quotas with heavy fines in the event of violation. Between 1967 and 1990, only 23 permits were issued for Palestinians to drill new wells, 20 of which were for domestic use and only three for agriculture. The number of existing wells also decreased from 413 to 300 due to a prohibition on restoring damaged wells.
Another reason is that Israeli water companies Mekorot and Tahal were digging deeper wells from the shared aquifer, causing many shallow Palestinian wells to run dry. For piped water, Palestinian consumers pay the full rate of USD 1.20 per cubic metre, whereas Jewish settlers are subsidised at USD 0.40 per cubic metre. It is no surprise that Israelis in the West Bank can comfortably consume more than ten times as much water as Palestinians.
The situation in the Gaza Strip is even more dehumanising. An arid area with a population density of 2,000 people per square kilometre, the region faces a forced water scarcity problem that is almost unparalleled in the world. Gaza’s water supply is currently insufficient to meet demand and is increasingly degraded by sewage pollution. Approximately 80,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage have been pumped into the Mediterranean every day since the bombing of the wastewater treatment facility. There are also reports of water from Gaza’s precious coastal aquifer being piped out to support agriculture in Israel. As a result, Palestinians endure intermittent supplies of piped water and are often compelled to survive on tanked supplies for extended periods.
Ironically, on the international stage, Israel presents itself as a nation offering a world-class solution to the challenges of drought and water scarcity. The uncomfortable truth is that Israel does not face a water problem because it has appropriated water from the Palestinians. The international community must recognise the weaponisation of water as a grave crime against humanity to safeguard this vital resource.
More than a decade has passed since I last discussed water as a weapon of war, yet little has changed. The article first appeared in the New Straits Times on 5 August 2014, under the title “Using Water as a Weapon of War. Fast forward, conflicts continue to devastate nations, with the environment remaining a silent victim. From Gaza to Ukraine, resources are still weaponised through the destruction of infrastructure, water contamination, and resource monopolisation. Civilians suffer further due to environmental degradation, leading to crises that persist long after the wars have ended.
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