In a new report [1], Amnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over the shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies. Israeli authorities said the report “distorts the truth” and that it reflected Palestinian propaganda.
These unreasonably restrict the availability of water in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and prevent the Palestinians developing an effective water infrastructure there.
“Israel allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, which lie mostly in the occupied West Bank, while the unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies. In Gaza the Israeli blockade has made an already dire situation worse,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s researcher on Israel and the OPT.
In their new report [1], Amnesty International revealed the extent to which Israel’s discriminatory water policies and practices are denying Palestinians their right to access to water. Uzi Landau, Israel’s minister of national infrastructure, called the report “a lie” and said it reflected Palestinian propaganda. “Despite Israel’s severe water crisis, Israel transfers large quantities of water, greater than it is obliged to according to the [Oslo] agreement.”
Israel uses more than 80 per cent of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, the main source of underground water in Israel and the OPT, while restricting Palestinian access to a mere 20 per cent.
The Mountain Aquifer is the only source for water for Palestinians in the West Bank, but only one of several for Israel, which also takes for itself all the water available from the Jordan River.
While Palestinian daily water consumption barely reaches 70 litres a day per person, Israeli daily consumption is more than 300 litres per day, four times as much.
In some rural communities Palestinians survive on barely 20 litres per day, the minimum amount recommended for domestic use in emergency situations.
Some 180,000-200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water and the Israeli army often prevents them from even collecting rainwater.
In contrast, Israeli settlers, who live in the West Bank in violation of international law, have intensive-irrigation farms, lush gardens and swimming pools.
[...] In the Gaza Strip, 90 to 95 per cent of the water from its only water resource, the Coastal Aquifer, is contaminated and unfit for human consumption. Yet, Israel does not allow the transfer of water from the Mountain Aquifer in the West Bank to Gaza.
[...] To cope with water shortages and lack of network supplies many Palestinians have to purchase water, of often dubious quality, from mobile water tankers at a much higher price.
[...] Israel has appropriated large areas of the water-rich Palestinian land it occupies and barred Palestinians from accessing them. It has also imposed a complex system of permits which the Palestinians must obtain from the Israeli army and other authorities in order to carry out water-related projects in the OPT. Applications for such permits are often rejected or subject to long delays.
Vegetable crops and irrigation network being uprooted by an Israeli army bulldozer in Jiftlik, Jordan Valley, 11 March 2008. Photo: Amnesty International
[...] In rural areas, Palestinian villagers are continuously struggling to find enough water for their basic needs, as the Israeli army often destroys their rainwater harvesting cisterns and confiscates their water tankers.
[...] In some Palestinian villages, because their access to water has been so severely restricted, farmers are unable to cultivate the land, or even to grow small amounts of food for their personal consumption or for animal fodder, and have thus been forced to reduce the size of their herds.
“Israel must end its discriminatory policies, immediately lift all the restrictions it imposes on Palestinians’ access to water, and take responsibility for addressing the problems it created by allowing Palestinians a fair share of the shared water resources,” said Donatella Rovera.
In a separate feature “The day the bulldozers came…“ read how Israeli army bulldozers destroyed rainwater cisterns, that were built in 2006 as part of a European Union-funded project, in the village of Beit Ula, north-west of Hebron.
Israeli reaction to Amnesty Report
The Israel Water authority said the report “distorts the truth” and that Israel “holds up its end of the Oslo agreement regarding water sharing”.
Uzi Landau, Israel’s minister of national infrastructure, called the report “a lie” and said it reflected Palestinian propaganda. “Despite Israel’s severe water crisis, Israel transfers large quantities of water, greater than it is obliged to according to the [Oslo] agreement.”
A different perspective: a Palestinian and Israeli mayor are building a water bridge
Canadian-Israeli enviro journalist Karin Kloosterman has a more positive story to tell. One where the Mayor of Gaza is co-operating with one from a nearby Israeli city, so Gaza City can build its own water treatment facility. An international meeting in Brazil in July 2009 was lined up so the two could meet, Hams refused to let the Mayor of Gaza from leaving the Strip.
Palestinians from the West Bank and East Jerusalem did attend the event, however, and they signed their names on the water works plan, without the consent of Hamas officials.
Expected to cost more than $50 million, the plant will be modelled on the eight-year old water treatment facility in Ashkelon. Gaza will receive the blueprints and Israeli specialists.
[1] Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories: Demand Dignity: Troubled waters – Palestinians denied fair access to water. Download PDF
Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories: Thirsting for justice: Palestinian access to water restricted (Demand Dignity campaign digest). Download PDF
Video: Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water
Source: Amnesty International, 27 Oct 2009 ; IRIN, 27 Oct 2009 ; Karin Kloosterman, Huffington Post, 29 Oct 2009
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