by Claire O'Neill

In Collaboration With National Geographic

Photographer Paolo Pellegrin has won a Robert Capa Gold Medal Award, is a member of the prestigious Magnum photo agency and has covered wars, humanitarian issues and some of the best living performers for The New York Times. And his first assignment for National Geographic magazine is running in this month's special water-themed issue (which you can download in-full here). Seems like the only thing left for him to do is publish a book. Oh wait — he has six.

  • Measuring sticks, originally built to catch water flowing west into the Jordan River for irrigation, are useless at Jordan's Ziglad Dam. After six years of drought, this reservoir has shrunk to one-fifth of its capacity and hasn't filled since 2003, forcing Jordan to ration water.
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    Measuring sticks, originally built to catch water flowing west into the Jordan River for irrigation, are useless at Jordan's Ziglad Dam. After six years of drought, this reservoir has shrunk to one-fifth of its capacity and hasn't filled since 2003, forcing Jordan to ration water.
    Photos by Paolo Pellegrin/National Geographic/ 
  • At a water park in Tiberias, Israelis bask in its relative abundance.
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    At a water park in Tiberias, Israelis bask in its relative abundance.
     
  • Meanwhile, Palestinians are restricted to shallow wells by Israel's occupation, and buy West Bank groundwater from Israel with European Union aid.
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    Meanwhile, Palestinians are restricted to shallow wells by Israel's occupation, and buy West Bank groundwater from Israel with European Union aid.
     
  • Workers from Thailand harvest bananas on an Israeli kibbutz in the Jordan Valley. Though lucrative, the tropical import needs at least eight times as much water as tomatoes.
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    Workers from Thailand harvest bananas on an Israeli kibbutz in the Jordan Valley. Though lucrative, the tropical import needs at least eight times as much water as tomatoes.
     
  • Tempers flare near Auja when a conversation between Israeli settlers and a local Palestinian turns to a debate over ownership of land and water. Fed by a natural spring, Auja's only water channel for farming runs dry every summer.
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    Tempers flare near Auja when a conversation between Israeli settlers and a local Palestinian turns to a debate over ownership of land and water. Fed by a natural spring, Auja's only water channel for farming runs dry every summer.
     
  • Girls from a West Bank village cool off in the salty waters of the Dead Sea. With its main tributary, the Jordan, at less than one-tenth of its former volume, the inland sea has dropped some 70 feet since 1978.
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    Girls from a West Bank village cool off in the salty waters of the Dead Sea. With its main tributary, the Jordan, at less than one-tenth of its former volume, the inland sea has dropped some 70 feet since 1978.
     
  • Girls from a West Bank village cool off in the salty waters of the Dead Sea. With its main tributary, the Jordan, at less than a tenth of its former volume, the inland sea has dropped some 70 feet since 1978.
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    Girls from a West Bank village cool off in the salty waters of the Dead Sea. With its main tributary, the Jordan, at less than a tenth of its former volume, the inland sea has dropped some 70 feet since 1978.
     

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The story that Pellegrin photographed for National Geographic, "Parting The Waters," provides a new angle on conflicts that have long plagued Israel and its neighbors. The Jordan River, a life source for those living along its banks, has the capacity to be both a source of contention and an opportunity for compromise. In this region, water is money, and groups clash for "ownership" of the Jordan. On the other hand, that vital need for water can also, paradoxically, provide incentive to settle differences.

Don Belt, the magazine's senior editor for foreign affairs, presents a story with some troubling facts. "Upstream, at the Sea of Galilee," he writes, "the river's fresh waters are diverted via Israel's national Water Carrier to the cities and farms of Israel. ... So today the lower Jordan is practically devoid of clean water, bearing instead a toxic brew of saline water and liquid waste ..."

But it's the imagery that really hits home. A photograph of Israelis relaxing at a water park is juxtaposed with Palestinians' scorched landscape, where inhabitants are restricted to shallow wells. Of course there are multiple sides to a complex issue, but it's hard to deny disparity when you see it. Read the full story and find more of Pellegrin's photos at ngm.com.

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