Appendix 4 - The Cotton plan for the development and utilization of the water resources of the Jordan and Litani River basins

Summary

The following is drawn from a report on the Cotton Plan in the National Archives of the State of Israel, Foreign Ministry document (Record Group 93), box 3688, file 2.

Main features of Plan:

1. a comprehensive plan — not limited to resources of the hydrographic basin, “but includes all resources which can be beneficially integrated into a regional plan”

2. achieves an irrigated area (2,600,000 dunum) almost three times that of the Main Plan (940,000 dunum)

3. allocation of full quantity of water required for irrigation of all the irrigable areas within the Jordan, Litani, and Yarmouk basins; only the excess water would be allocated for the Coastal Plain and southern regions of Israel

Inclusion of Litani River

A diversion of surplus water of the Litani would in no way handicap irrigation development in Lebanon, while the hydro-power potential could be considerably increased … Such a development must not be considered as a diversion of a natural resource of an Arab state for the benefit of Israel; it should rather be defined as the conveyance of this resource, through Israel territory, for the common benefit of the Arab basin states and Israel.