The War over Water occurred from November 1964 to May 1967 when Israel and its Arab neighbors, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, engaged in sporadic clashes over ownership of the water from Lake Tiberias and the Jordan River drainage basin. The tensions of 1964-1967 led to the Six-Day War of 1967.
Background[]
In the aftermath of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israel won its independence and fought off the neighboring Arab states. The enmity continued as water sharing from the Yarmuk and Jordan Rivers led to the rivalry between Israel and Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon continuing. In 1964, Israel completed its National Water Carrier project to siphon water from the Sea of Galilee, leading to the Arab states worrying about the economic growth which this would mean for Israel. The Arab League met that same year and agreed that they needed to forestall the establishment of Israel, prevent it from redirecting the waters of the Jordan and Lake Tiberias, and make military preparations for the final military liquidation of Israel.
War[]
In 1964, President Amin al-Hafiz of Syria hired a team of Saudi Arabians led by construction magnate Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden to build a water pumping facility at Shallal in Rif Dimashq Governorate to halt the flow of the Banias and Hasbani Rivers into Lake Tiberias, which would thereby deprive Israel of its only water source. The construction of the installation was complete by early 1965, but Israel decided to retaliate with the bombing of Shallal on 23 January 1965. Assisted by the undercover spy Eli Cohen, the Israeli Air Force launched a nighttime raid on Shallal, destroying the facility and depriving the Syrians of their advantage. Throughout 1965, there were three notable border clashes as the Syrian soldiers shot at Israeli farmers and army patrols from their underground bunkers in the Golan Heights, and Israeli tanks and artillery destroyed the Arab heavy earth-moving machines which were used for the diversion plan. The Arab states were eventually forced to abandon their diversion project, but the rivalry between the states led to violence flaring up again in June 1967 during the Six-Day War.