Individual Reading for 2/9/2012 Like oil and water

The Middle East has always had a rich abundance of natural resources, although which resources are coveted and valued has changed over time. Today, abundant petroleum fields dominate the area's economy. The Middle East is similarly disproportionately rich in natural gas (32 percent of the world's known natural gas reserves are in the region) and phosphate (Morocco alone has more than half of the world's reserves). Water has always been an important resource in the Middle East -- for its relative scarcity rather than its abundance. Disputes over rights to water (for example, building a dam in one country upstream from another) are a fundamental part of the political relationships in the region. Water for irrigation is necessary for many of the ecosystems to sustain crops.

Early Western control of oil

In the 18th and 19th centuries, major European nations competed to establish and maintain colonies around the world. Superior military power and economic leverage allowed them to create new markets for their manufactured goods, and to exploit the natural resources of the African, American, and Asian continents. Since the early part of the 19th century, Europeans vied to control the Middle East. The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 divided the Ottoman lands between the British and the French, giving those nations control over any natural resources, most importantly oil. Modern armies were thirsty for oil. The British navy was the first to switch from coal to oil in 1912, and other new technologies, like automobiles and airplanes, quickly and drastically increased the demand for fuel. The United States was becoming an important player in world affairs during the early 20th century, and soon Americans found they, too, had a vested interest in developing and controlling oil reserves in the Middle East to supply their growing needs.

Water, water, but not everywhere

Another resource of vital importance to the region is water. Egypt, Iran, and Turkey are the only countries in the region with abundant fresh water resources. Roughly two-thirds of the Arab world depends on sources outside their borders for their water supply. The scarcity of water is a major cause of tension between states in the region. Former U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has said that the next war in the Middle East will be fought over water. The Jordan River provides 75 percent of Jordan's water and 60 percent of Israel's. In the early 1960s, Arab nations worked to divert the headwaters of the Jordan away from Israel and towards Jordan. One of Israel's objectives in the Arab-Israeli Six Day War of 1967, among others, was to control the Golan Heights and prevent this plan from being carried out. Israel is still reluctant to restore control of the Golan Heights to Syria. Though often ignored in Western analyses, water is one of the most contentious issues in the discussion of any peace plan for the Jordan Valley. The Euphrates River, which originates in Turkey, provides most of the water for eastern Syria and almost all of Iraq. Turkey plans to build almost two dozen hydroelectric power dams for its growing population and industries. These dams, joining the completed Atatrk Dam, would drastically reduce the water available to Syria and Iraq. Syria, in turn, has dammed part of the Euphrates under its control, further choking off the water supply to Iraq. International complaints and protests are often challenged on the grounds that the dams are domestic infrastructure projects.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/resource/index.html