Johnston Plan
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The Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan, commonly known as the "Johnston Plan", was a plan for the unified
water resource Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. These resources can be either freshwater from natural sources, or water produced artificia ...
development of the Jordan Valley. It was negotiated and developed by
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
Special Representative
Eric Johnston Eric Allen Johnston (December 21, 1896 – August 22, 1963) was a business owner, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce, a Republican Party activist, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and a U.S. governm ...
between 1953 and 1955, and based on an earlier plan commissioned by
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, pronounced ) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fle ...
(UNRWA). Modeled upon the
Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...
's engineered development plan, it was approved by technical water committees of all the regional
riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...
countries—
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
,
Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
,
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
and
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
.The UNRWA commissioned a plan for the development of the Jordan River; this became widely known as "The Johnston plan". The plan was modelled on the
Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...
development plan for the development of the Jordan River as a single unit. Greg Shapland, (1997
''Rivers of Discord: International Water Disputes in the Middle East''
C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, p 14
Though the plan was rejected by the Arab League, both Israel and Jordan undertook to abide by their allocations under the plan. The US provided funding for Israel's
National Water Carrier National Water Carrier of Israel The National Water Carrier of Israel (, ''HaMovil HaArtzi'') is the largest water project in Israel, completed in 1964. Its main purpose is to transfer water from the Sea of Galilee in the north of the country ...
after receiving assurances from Israel that it would continue to abide by the plan's allocations. Similar funding was provided for Jordan's East Ghor Main Canal project after similar assurances were obtained from Jordan.


Background

In the late 1930s and mid 1940s,
Transjordan Transjordan may refer to: * Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River * Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan * Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946) * Hashemite Kingdom o ...
and the
Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization (; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the F ...
commissioned mutually exclusive, competing water resource development studies. The Transjordanian study, performed by Michael G. Ionides, concluded that the naturally available water resources were not sufficient to sustain a Jewish homeland and the destination of Jewish immigrants. The Zionist's study, by the American engineer Walter Clay Lowdermilk concluded similarly, but noted that by diverting water from the Jordan River basin to the
Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...
for support of agricultural and residential development there, a Jewish state with 4 million new immigrants would be sustainable. In 1953, Israel began construction of a
water carrier Water carrier (also water seller) is a profession that existed before the advent of centralized water supply systems. A water carrier collected water from a source (a river, a well, water pumps, etc.) and transported or carried containers with w ...
to take water from the
Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...
to the populated center and agricultural south of the country, while Jordan concluded an agreement with Syria, known as the Bunger plan, to dam the Yarmouk river near Maqarin, and utilize its waters to irrigate Jordanian territory, before they could flow to the Sea of Galilee. Military clashes ensued, and
US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...
Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
dispatched ambassador Johnston to the region to work out a plan that would regulate water usage.


CIA Declassified Documents

Source: Banat Yacov Project. 7 February 1956: I. Next foreseeable crisis date in Arab-Israeli situation comes on 1 March, the "deadline" date which Israelis gave Amb. Johnston last autumn for gaining Arab acceptance of Jordan river valley scheme. After 1 March, Israelis told Johnston, they would feel free to go ahead with unilateral Israeli plan for using Jordan Waters. II. Bone of contention is so-called Banat Yacov project, which takes its name from bridge crossing Jordan River some 8 mi. north of
Lake Tiberias The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lak ...
(Sea of Galilee). * Israel wishes to complete canal on western side of Jordan River, running southward from Banat Yacov to Lake Tiberias. * Objective is stated to be only electric power—diverted water would drop about 800 feet to power-station near Tiberias shore, then flow back into lake. * Problem—first 1 1/2 mi. of canal must pass through "
demilitarized zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between states, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or boundary ...
" established under the Israeli-Syrian armistice agreement. ** Syrians maintain (with partial support from UN truce observers) that Israeli project would violate armistice agreement, take water away from Arab landowners in Syria and Jordan. ** Israelis maintain (also with partial support of UN truce people) they are within legal rights. III. Question came to UN Security Council shortly after Israelis began work on project over two years ago. (Sep '53). * In Oct. '53, Security Council passed resolution asking Israel to suspend work on Banat Yacov project while Council considered problem. * Subsequently, SC Resolution proposing that matter be referred to UN Truce Supervisor was vetoed by USSR. * No formal action since then: accordingly, SC is still in theory seized with problem, and Israelis have, up to present, held off on work within actual "demilitarized zone" while continuing work on seven-mile stretch within their own territory. IV. However, Israelis have made their "postponement" of Banat Yacov completion contingent on implementation of Johnston plan. * Since fall of '53, (when Amb. Johnston made first visit to Middle East) negotiations on Jordan valley scheme have moved slowly. * In fall of '55, Johnston succeeded in obtaining Arab ''concurrence'' in technical aspects—already accepted by Israel: Arabs have balked, however, on political grounds. ** Although Egyptian prime minister Nasr stated last fall he thought he could bring other Arab states around to acceptance in three or four months, no sign of such activity on his part to date. * Israeli raid across Tiberias (Dec '55) seems to have killed whatever faint prospect there may have been that Syria or other Arabs would accept Johnston plan in near future. * Thus 1 March deadline approaching with little or no chance of Arab acceptance Jordan valley scheme. V. On 31 Jan, Syrian prime minister Ghazzi delivered aide memoirs to US embassy which implied that Syria would use force to prevent Israelis from resuming work on that part of Banat Yacov canal which lies in "demilitarized zone." * edacted.. Syria demarch was coordinated with Egypt. * Egyptian prime minister Nasr has stated he will support Syria militarily if hostilities break out over Jordan water issue. * Egypt and Syria have formal military pact, and recent Egyptian troop movements (massing armor in eastern Sinai peninsula) suggest Egypt may be preparing for worst, in expectation it may be called on to fulfill commitment to ''Syria'' over water issue. VI. However, Israelis have given intimations recently that "deadline" does not necessarily mean they will resume Banat Yacov work on or immediately after 1 March. * Seems more likely that Israelis would first call for review of problem by UN truce supervisor (Gen. Burns) --and implicitly by US, UK and Franco, the "guarantors" of peace in the area. * Israelis nevertheless probably will not wait too much longer to get issue resolved. * If they cannot do it by diplomacy, they might take chance that Syrians are bluffing, and go ahead anyway. UN Sec. Gen Hammarskjold after visit to Palestine in January told American officials ''he felt'' Banat Yacov issue Syria would fight on. he felt Israel wrong if forced this issue and he and Gen. Burns agreed they would take strong stand against unilateral action by Israel at Banat Yacov.


Plan

Eisenhower appointed
Eric Johnston Eric Allen Johnston (December 21, 1896 – August 22, 1963) was a business owner, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce, a Republican Party activist, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and a U.S. governm ...
as a special ambassador on 16 October 1953, and tasked him with mediating a comprehensive plan for the regional development of the Jordan River system. As a starting point, Johnston used a plan commissioned by UNRWA and performed by the American consulting firm
Chas. T. Main Chas. T. Main Inc. was an engineering company of the United States founded in 1893 and specialized in power generation—mainly hydroelectric power. In 1985, the company was bought by Parsons Corporation. History It was founded in 1893 by Char ...
, known as the "Main Plan". The Main Plan, published just days before Johnston's appointment, utilized the same principles employed by the Tennessee Valley Authority to optimize the usage of an entire river basin as a single unit.The UNRWA commissioned a plan for the development of the Jordan River; this became widely known as "The Johnston plan". The plan was modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority development plan for the development of the Jordan River as a single unit. Greg Shapland, (1997) ''Rivers of Discord: International Water Disputes in the Middle East''. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, p 14 The plan was based on principles similar to those embodied in the
Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred $13.3 billion (equivalent to $ in ) in economic recovery pr ...
– reducing the potential for conflict by promoting cooperation and economic stability.Masahiro Murakami,
Managing Water for Peace in the Middle East: Alternative Strategies
'', Appendix C: "Historical review of the political riparian issues in the development of the Jordan River and basin management," United Nations University Press, 1995
The main features of the plan were: * a dam on the
Hasbani River The Hasbani ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Ḥāṣbānī''; ''Ḥatzbaní'') or Snir Stream ( / ''Nahal Sənir''), is the major tributary of the Jordan River that flows in Lebanon, the Golan Heights and Israel. In the mid-19th century, what the Westerners wo ...
to provide power and irrigate the
Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...
area * dams on the
Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa ** Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivo ...
and
Banias Banias (; ; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: , etc.; ), also spelled Banyas, is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek god Pan. It had been inhabited for 2,000 years, until its Syrian population fle ...
Rivers to irrigate Galilee * drainage of the Huleh swamps * a dam at Maqarin on the
Yarmouk River The Yarmuk River (, ; Greek: Ἱερομύκης, ; or ''Heromicas''; sometimes spelled Yarmouk) is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel, and drains much of the Hauran plateau. Its main tributaries are ...
for water storage (capacity of 175 million m³) and power generation, * a small dam at Addassiyah on the Yarmouk to divert its water toward both the Sea of Galilee and south along the eastern
Ghor Ghōr, also spelled Ghowr or Ghur (), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central Afghanistan, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven districts, encompassing hundreds of vil ...
* a small dam at the outlet of Sea of Galilee to increase the lake's storage capacity * gravity-flow canals along the east and west sides of the Jordan valley to irrigate the area between the Yarmouk's confluence with the Jordan and the Dead Sea * control works and canals to utilize perennial flows from the wadis that the canals cross.Managing water for peace in the Middle East
/ref> The initial plan gave preference to in-basin use of the Jordan waters, and ruled out integration of the
Litani River The Litani River (), the classical Leontes (), is an important water resource in southern Lebanon. The river rises in the fertile Beqaa Valley, west of Baalbek, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea north of Tyre. Exceeding in length, the ...
in Lebanon. The proposed quotas were: Israel 394 million m³, Jordan 774 million m³, and Syria 45 million m³. Both sides countered with proposals of their own. Israel demanded the inclusion of the Litani river in the pool of available sources, the use of the Sea of Galilee as the main storage facility, out-of-basin use of the Jordan waters, and the Mediterranean-Dead Sea canal. As well, Israel demanded more than doubling of its allocation, from 394 million m³ annually to 810 million m³. The Arabs countered with a proposal based on the Ionides, MacDonald and Bunger plans, meaning exclusive in-basin use, and rejecting storage in the Sea of Galilee. As well, they demanded recognition of
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
as a riparian state, while excluding the Litani from the plan. Their proposed quota allocations were: Israel 200 million m³, Jordan 861 million m³, Syria 132 million m³ and Lebanon 35 million m³ per year. Negotiations ensued, and gradually the differences were eliminated. Israel dropped the request to integrate the Litani, and the Arabs dropped their objection to out-of-basin use of waters. Ultimately the unified plan proposed the following allocations, by source: The Plan was accepted by the technical committees from both Israel and the
Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...
. A discussion in the
Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...
in July 1955 ended without a vote. The Arab Experts Committee approved the plan in September 1955 and referred it for final approval to the Arab League Council. On 11 October 1955, the Council voted not to ratify the plan, due to the League's opposition to formal recognition of Israel. However, the Arab League committed itself to adhere to the technical details without providing official approval.


Later developments

After the
Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...
in 1956, however, Arab attitudes hardened considerably, and the Arab League, with the exception of Jordan, now actively opposed the Johnston plan, arguing that any plan to strengthen the Israeli economy only increased the potential threat from Israel. Regardless, both Jordan and Israel undertook to operate within their allocations, and two major successful projects were completed – the Israeli
National Water Carrier National Water Carrier of Israel The National Water Carrier of Israel (, ''HaMovil HaArtzi'') is the largest water project in Israel, completed in 1964. Its main purpose is to transfer water from the Sea of Galilee in the north of the country ...
and Jordan's East Ghor Main Canal (now known as the
King Abdullah Canal The King Abdullah Canal is the largest irrigation canal system in Jordan and runs parallel to the east bank of the Jordan River. It was previously known as the East Ghor Main Canal and renamed in 1987 after Abdullah I of Jordan. Water sources and ...
). Both projects were partially funded by the United States, after Israel and Jordan provided assurances they would abide by their allocations. In 1965, President
Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...
assured the American
undersecretary of state Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is a ...
, Philip Talbot, that the Arabs would not exceed the water quotas prescribed by the Johnston plan. At this point, the other Arab states resolved to reduce the operation of Israel's National Water Carrier by diverting the headwaters of the Jordan, leading to a series of military clashes which would help precipitate the 1967
Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...
.Shlaim, p. 235.


References


Quotes

{{reflist, group=qt , refs= {{cite book, last1=Gat , first1=Moshe , title=Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964–1967: The Coming of the Six-Day War , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ntLdA8QIgXIC , access-date=2023-06-24 , date=2003 , publisher=Praeger Publishers , isbn=978-0-275-97514-2 , page=101 , quote=Nasser, too, assured the American undersecretary of state, Philip Talbot, that the Arabs would not exceed the water quotas prescribed by the Johnson{{sic Plan. Jordan River Irrigation projects Water politics in the Middle East Water in Israel Water in Jordan Water in Lebanon Water in Syria