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however, while basic infrastructure improvements continue (for example, dissemination of two-tank toilets, etc.) there is less of an actual appeal for restraint and conservation and the issue of demand management remains tucked far away from public consciousness. In other words, a crisis management response dominates the public’s behaviour. The challenge is to convert this response to a sustainable one that pre-empts crisis rather than responding to it. In sum, the water culture in Israel is driven by the hegemony of agriculture that is rooted in Zionist ideology. Demand management and conservation tend to be retroactive and are short-term responses to crises and not proactive and long term. Supply-side management dominates with special attention being focused on technological panaceas to the water crisis, such as the building of desalination plants on the Mediterranean coast and the proposed Red-Dead Conveyance project. references Abu-Zeid, M. A. 1998. Water and sustainable development: The vision for world water, life and the environment. Water Policy 1:9–19. Assaf, K. K., M. Ben-Zvi, J. S. Clarke, H. El-Naser, S. Kesselman, M. N. Landers, M. F. Nuseibeh, and C. J. Wipperfurth. 1998. Overview of Middle East water resources: Water resources of Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli interest. U.S. Geological Service, EXACT Middle East Water Data Banks Project. Burmil, S., T. C. Daniel, and J. D. Hetherington. 1999. Human values and perceptions of water in arid landscapes. Landscape and Urban Planning 44:99–109. Feitelson, E. 2000. The ebb and flow of Arab-Israeli water conflicts: Are past conflicts likely to resurface. Water Policy 2:343–363. Fleischer, A., and Y. Tsur. 2000. Measuring the recreational value of agricultural landscape. European Review of Agricultural Economics 27(3): 385–398. Hillel, D. 1994. Rivers of Eden: The struggle for water and the quest for peace in the Middle East. New York: Oxford University Press. Hoekstra, A. Y. 1988. Appreciation of water: Four perspectives. Water Policy 1:605–622. Hutson, S. S., L. N. Barber, F. J. Kenny, S. K. Linsey, S. D. Lumia, and A. M Maupin. 2004. Estimated use of water in the United States in 2000. U.S. Geological Survey. Isaac, J., N. Hrimat, K. Rishmawi, S. Saad, M. Abu Kubea, J. Hilal, M. Owawi, G. Sababa, M. Awad, F. Ishaq, and I. Zboun. 2000. An atlas of Palestine: The West Bank and Gaza. Bethlehem, Palestine: Applied Research Institute Jerusalem. Kislev, Y. 2002. Urban water in Israel. Discussion paper no. 6.02. Jerusalem, Israel: Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Lipchin, C. 2000. Water use in the southern Arava Valley of Israel and Jordan: A study of local perceptions. Journal of the International Institute 11:112–114. Pandey, J. 1990. The environment, culture and behavior. Applied Cross-Cultural Psychology 14:254–277. Shechter, M., B. Reiser, and N. Zaitsev. 1998. Measuring passive use value: Pledges, donations and CV responses in connection with an important natural resource. Environmental and Resource Economics 12(4): 457–478. Water Culture in Israel 75 O Editors’ Summary The cultural contexts of Israelis and Palestinians in the realm of water have noted similarities and differences. But they inform and will influence the future discourse about water resource management. The role of agriculture in each society is markedly different, but the implications for water policy may not be. In Israel, the commitment to the farming sector constitutes a hold over from Zionist ideology that gives the agricultural sector a preferrential status. Despite any economic and social indicators that say otherwise, farming as an honorable profession still resonates strongly with the Israeli public. While agriculture’s “stock” has dropped in recent years, there remains a pride in Israel’s agrarian heritage and a willingness to pay for maintaining a verdant countryside. Palestinians also enjoy a rich agricultural heritage, albeit the role of irrigation and high-tech, export-driven farming has never been as salient. There also is less historic tension between different water-using segments as to the legitimacy of the dominant agricultural allocation there. (There are signs, though, that as urban population needs grow, there may be less tolerance for profligate utilization of water by Palestinian farmers.) During the Intifidah periods, when the Palestinian economy imploded, agriculture provided many households with subsistence support. This left many Palestinians with the sense that, at the very least, providing water for agriculture can be critical in tough times for economic and human survival. It can therefore be assumed that any peace agreement will have to...

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