14 july 2016
As the extensive Israeli military invasion into the southern West Bank district of Hebron continues to escalate, the soldiers destroyed, on Thursday morning, water wells, and the entrances of several Palestinian homes.
Media sources in Hebron said the soldiers destroyed several Palestinian water wells, detonated the entrances of eight apartments, in Hebron city, violently searched many residences and kidnapped at least one Palestinian.
Also in Hebron, the army invaded Farsh al-Hawa area, and the area around the al-Ahli Hospital, before storming a residential building, and violently searched several apartments. During the invasions, the soldiers detonated three Palestinian water wells.
The soldiers invaded two workshops in Hebron city, allegedly used for manufacturing weapons, and also stormed and ransacked many homes in the towns of Sa’ir and Bani Neim, east of Hebron, and placed concrete blocks, closing Hebron’s northern road.
Media sources in Hebron said the soldiers destroyed several Palestinian water wells, detonated the entrances of eight apartments, in Hebron city, violently searched many residences and kidnapped at least one Palestinian.
Also in Hebron, the army invaded Farsh al-Hawa area, and the area around the al-Ahli Hospital, before storming a residential building, and violently searched several apartments. During the invasions, the soldiers detonated three Palestinian water wells.
The soldiers invaded two workshops in Hebron city, allegedly used for manufacturing weapons, and also stormed and ransacked many homes in the towns of Sa’ir and Bani Neim, east of Hebron, and placed concrete blocks, closing Hebron’s northern road.
12 july 2016
The Turkish Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs announced, Tuesday, that Turkey is to establish a seawater desalination plant to solve water crisis, estimating the coast of the project to $300,000,000 USD.
The minister noted, according to Al Ray, that the project is big-ticket, noting that some countries announced that they will contribute to the project.
Gaza water infrastructure has shuddered under the burden of an almost decade-long Israeli-Egyptian siege.
Three major Israeli wars on Gaza since 2008 have only exacerbated the problem, with jets bombing every square kilometre of the strip, inflicting damage onto reservoirs above and pipelines below the ground.
The director of Coastal Municipalities Water Utility in Gaza explained that the proportion of groundwater that is unfit for drinking is more than 97%.
09/03/15 United Nations: Gaza Could Be Uninhabitable Within 5 Years
He added that the amount of chloride in the groundwater is higher than the normal average according to the Palestinian specification and the standards of World Health Organization which estimated the chloride in the water up to 1.500 milligrams per liter.
However, the standards of World Health organization warns of the increasing of chloride in water to more than 400 milligrams per liter.
The minister noted, according to Al Ray, that the project is big-ticket, noting that some countries announced that they will contribute to the project.
Gaza water infrastructure has shuddered under the burden of an almost decade-long Israeli-Egyptian siege.
Three major Israeli wars on Gaza since 2008 have only exacerbated the problem, with jets bombing every square kilometre of the strip, inflicting damage onto reservoirs above and pipelines below the ground.
The director of Coastal Municipalities Water Utility in Gaza explained that the proportion of groundwater that is unfit for drinking is more than 97%.
09/03/15 United Nations: Gaza Could Be Uninhabitable Within 5 Years
He added that the amount of chloride in the groundwater is higher than the normal average according to the Palestinian specification and the standards of World Health Organization which estimated the chloride in the water up to 1.500 milligrams per liter.
However, the standards of World Health organization warns of the increasing of chloride in water to more than 400 milligrams per liter.
30 june 2016
By Dr. Mustapha Al-Barghouthi
The production of water in the West Bank is estimated at 932 million cubic meters annually, of which Israel steals at least 800 million cubic meters. In essence, this means it takes over 86% of the total amount of water in the West Bank.
A Palestinian citizen in the Occupied Territories receives not more than 50 cubic meters of water annually, while an illegal Israeli settler receives 2400 cubic meters of water annually, 48 times more than what Palestinians, the owners of the land, are entitled to.
However, this issue extends still further than this. Palestinians pay double what Israelis do to purchase their own, stolen water from the Israelis. Palestinians are not allowed to dig water-wells deeper than 100 meters, and this is only allowed in the Eastern basin while they are strictly not allowed to do so in the Western basin.
In contrast, Israelis are allowed to dig at depths of 600-700 meters, and sometimes at 1000 meters, thereby drying a large number of water-wells in addition to shutting down other wells by force. It is no coincidence that many settlements were built on lands under which the most important water basins in the West Bank exist.
The Israeli occupation authorities control water distribution. Recently, it decided to reduce the supply of water to large areas in the West Bank, with 40% of the total amount provided to Palestinians reduced, thus ensuring no disruption to water provided to illegal settlements in the West Bank.
This is the reason why our cities and villages are currently suffering from the lack of water in the summer. This is why thousands of households are forced to live on less water during the burning hot days of summer, or resort to purchase water at very expensive prices despite their limited income.
What I have mentioned is just half of the story. The larger tragedy that the Gaza Strip is living, is the second half. Israel built dams in order to prevent rainwater from Hebron’s mountains from reaching the aquifer.
Gaza’s water was extremely overused by the Israeli settlements before they were dismantled (in 2005).
96% of Gaza’s water of Gaza’s water, according to international reports, is not fit for human consumption due to high levels of salt, pollution and sewage.
The United Nation estimates that Gaza will not be uninhabitable by 2020. Gaza is currently out of reach due to the siege and restrictions imposed on the Rafah crossing, but those who live in Gaza, or those who managed to visit it, know well what it is like to shower with salty water, or even drink a cup of salty and bitter water.
An Israeli Rabbi, Shlomo Mlmad, has shamelessly called on Israeli settlers to poison Palestinian water-wells, amidst calls for murder and terror.
Such a call would have led to his arrest and trial had he lived in a democratic country. However, he lives in Israel where an illegal occupation is legitimate, where racial discrimination is an official policy and where water has become one of the most dangerous weapons to solidify the discriminatory apartheid regime.
If anyone had the courage in any country to call for poisoning water used by Jewish people, which we of course object to, the Western world would be utterly outraged. In our case, no single newspaper, to the best of my knowledge nor any TV channel, mentioned the threat made by Shlomo Mlmad at all.
It is our duty to struggle for our right to our water, because the right to water equals the right to life. It is our right to expose and fight against using water as a weapon of racial discrimination.
We know all too well that many propaganda outlets will call revealing the truth a form of incitement. Palestinians will never leave (their land) no matter how much Israelis master racial discrimination, even if we are forced to squeeze cactus trees to look for water to quench our thirst.
Our struggle and unity for our right to have water and life is the best means to achieve our goals and to end the racial discrimination under which we are forced to exist.
Dr. Mustapha Al-Barghouthi is the General Secretary of the Palestinian Initiative and a member of the Palestinian parliament. (This article was originally published in Arabic by Al-Quds Newspaper and parts of it were translated by the Palestine Chronicle.)
The production of water in the West Bank is estimated at 932 million cubic meters annually, of which Israel steals at least 800 million cubic meters. In essence, this means it takes over 86% of the total amount of water in the West Bank.
A Palestinian citizen in the Occupied Territories receives not more than 50 cubic meters of water annually, while an illegal Israeli settler receives 2400 cubic meters of water annually, 48 times more than what Palestinians, the owners of the land, are entitled to.
However, this issue extends still further than this. Palestinians pay double what Israelis do to purchase their own, stolen water from the Israelis. Palestinians are not allowed to dig water-wells deeper than 100 meters, and this is only allowed in the Eastern basin while they are strictly not allowed to do so in the Western basin.
In contrast, Israelis are allowed to dig at depths of 600-700 meters, and sometimes at 1000 meters, thereby drying a large number of water-wells in addition to shutting down other wells by force. It is no coincidence that many settlements were built on lands under which the most important water basins in the West Bank exist.
The Israeli occupation authorities control water distribution. Recently, it decided to reduce the supply of water to large areas in the West Bank, with 40% of the total amount provided to Palestinians reduced, thus ensuring no disruption to water provided to illegal settlements in the West Bank.
This is the reason why our cities and villages are currently suffering from the lack of water in the summer. This is why thousands of households are forced to live on less water during the burning hot days of summer, or resort to purchase water at very expensive prices despite their limited income.
What I have mentioned is just half of the story. The larger tragedy that the Gaza Strip is living, is the second half. Israel built dams in order to prevent rainwater from Hebron’s mountains from reaching the aquifer.
Gaza’s water was extremely overused by the Israeli settlements before they were dismantled (in 2005).
96% of Gaza’s water of Gaza’s water, according to international reports, is not fit for human consumption due to high levels of salt, pollution and sewage.
The United Nation estimates that Gaza will not be uninhabitable by 2020. Gaza is currently out of reach due to the siege and restrictions imposed on the Rafah crossing, but those who live in Gaza, or those who managed to visit it, know well what it is like to shower with salty water, or even drink a cup of salty and bitter water.
An Israeli Rabbi, Shlomo Mlmad, has shamelessly called on Israeli settlers to poison Palestinian water-wells, amidst calls for murder and terror.
Such a call would have led to his arrest and trial had he lived in a democratic country. However, he lives in Israel where an illegal occupation is legitimate, where racial discrimination is an official policy and where water has become one of the most dangerous weapons to solidify the discriminatory apartheid regime.
If anyone had the courage in any country to call for poisoning water used by Jewish people, which we of course object to, the Western world would be utterly outraged. In our case, no single newspaper, to the best of my knowledge nor any TV channel, mentioned the threat made by Shlomo Mlmad at all.
It is our duty to struggle for our right to our water, because the right to water equals the right to life. It is our right to expose and fight against using water as a weapon of racial discrimination.
We know all too well that many propaganda outlets will call revealing the truth a form of incitement. Palestinians will never leave (their land) no matter how much Israelis master racial discrimination, even if we are forced to squeeze cactus trees to look for water to quench our thirst.
Our struggle and unity for our right to have water and life is the best means to achieve our goals and to end the racial discrimination under which we are forced to exist.
Dr. Mustapha Al-Barghouthi is the General Secretary of the Palestinian Initiative and a member of the Palestinian parliament. (This article was originally published in Arabic by Al-Quds Newspaper and parts of it were translated by the Palestine Chronicle.)
29 june 2016
Israeli Occupation forces (IOF) handed out demolition notices to Palestinians residing in al-Ras al-Ahmar area in the northern Jordan Valley.
The notices stipulated knocking down a number of civic facilities. Mutaz Bsharat, the official of Jordan Valley file, said that among the structures to be demolished there are homes, tents, stockyards, and housing facilities in addition to a water line extending along 1000 meters.
The notices also included a stop-of-construction order against a home belonging to the family of Raed Bsharat. It is located in the same area.
The notices stipulated knocking down a number of civic facilities. Mutaz Bsharat, the official of Jordan Valley file, said that among the structures to be demolished there are homes, tents, stockyards, and housing facilities in addition to a water line extending along 1000 meters.
The notices also included a stop-of-construction order against a home belonging to the family of Raed Bsharat. It is located in the same area.
28 june 2016
Water has been cut to Palestinian and Israeli towns and villages all across the West Bank, sparking an uproar amongst the population; Palestinian officials blame the Israelis for cutting off their water, while Israeli officials blame poor Palestinian management of water infrastructure.
As Palestinians in the West Bank fast from dawn to dusk in scorching heat during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, tens of thousands of people have been affected by a drought that has greatly reduced the flow to their taps.
Israel admits it's been forced to cut water supplies to the parched area, saying that nearby Jewish settlements have also been affected. But Palestinian areas appear to have been hit much harder, and both sides are blaming each other.
The water shortage has harmed farmers, forced people to bathe less and created a booming business for tanker trucks that deliver water.
Israel blames it on the unusually early summer heat and the Palestinians' refusal to cooperate with Israel on renovating their leaky pipe system. Palestinians say the shortage is evidence of the uneven distribution of water from an underground aquifer — which was enshrined in an outdated peace agreement.
Israel Water Authority spokesman Uri Schor said Israel sells the Palestinians 64 million cubic meters of water each year, double the amount stipulated in the 1995 accords. He said that to protect the groundwater, Israel has reduced supplies to both Palestinian and Israeli communities in the West Bank, without providing exact figures.
Schor accused the Palestinians of refusing to convene the Joint Water Committee, a body established by the Oslo Accords to manage the shared water resources. Without the committee, Schor says, it's impossible to approve repairs to infrastructure — and damaged pipes can drain away up to a third of supplies.
"The Palestinians are taking advantage of this to say Israel is taking our water," he said. "This is rubbish. The area has a problem and this can be solved by upgrading all the infrastructure, but the Palestinians veto this."
Water shortages have hit Israeli settlements as well, although to a lesser degree.
Esther Allouch, spokeswoman for the Samaria Regional Council, a group of settlements in the northern West Bank, said the hilltop settlement of Tapuah, with a population of 1,000, had a three-day shortage recently and also needed to bring in water tankers, which her council pays for.
Over the weekend, nearly all the 20,000 residents of the Israeli city of Ariel in the West Bank experienced a half-hour water interruption. Allouch said settlements are suspending irrigation of farmland and reducing their use of dishwashers and showers.
"For years we have been saying that the infrastructure in Judea and Samaria is not sufficient," she said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.
Some Palestinian villages in the West Bank and some isolated Israeli settlements are not connected to the national water grid, relying instead on local underground supplies.
Israeli environmental advocate Gidon Bromberg says the water shortage is "outrageous."
"The fact there is excess water in Israel means for very first time, the natural water can be shared at low cost to Israel and high gain to Palestinians and Israelis together," said Bromberg, the director of EcoPeace Middle East, a group that promotes region-wide environmental cooperation.
In Salem, a village of 7,000 people in the northern West Bank, Israel has slowed the water flow by two-thirds for a month now, said local water engineer Wahed Hamdan. What remains is further diminished by a leaky pipe system installed in 1982, he said.
To cope with the diminished flow, Salem has instituted a rotation regime between neighborhoods, Hamdan said. Residents use pumps to bring the trickle to storage tanks on their roofs but the weak stream cannot reach homes on the outskirts of the village.
When the water runs out, Mohammed Fahmi, 22, does a brisk trade supplying the village homes via 800-gallon (3,000-liter) tankers, which he delivers for about $20 per truck — which can quadruple a family's monthly water bill.
The water comes from wells drilled by the Palestinian Authority. But there's often not enough for everyone. "Some people wait two days until I can deliver," Fahmi said.
Suleiman Hasan, a driver from Salem, said he is showering less to save water. His garden has dried up, and his olive tree has turned yellow.
By contrast, in the West Bank's political center of Ramallah, water is delivered twice a week, and the pressure is high enough to reach rooftop storage tanks without extra pumping. Usually, supplies last until the next delivery.
Under interim peace accords signed in 1995, Israel controls 80 percent of the aquifer while the Palestinian Authority is allocated 20 percent. Israel also draws water from the Sea of Galilee and from desalinization, sources that are not available to the Palestinians. Israel is required by the peace accords to sell additional water to the Palestinians.
The Oslo Accords, which divided up the natural water resources, were intended to last for five years, pending a final peace agreement. But they remain in effect after two decades of failed peace efforts.
Palestinian Water Authority director Mazen Ghoneim said the joint committee has not met in five years because Israelis use it to force Palestinians to approve water projects for Israeli settlements, which the Palestinians and most of the international community consider illegal.
Ghoneim demanded a renegotiation of the 80-20 ratio of water sharing in the West Bank and alleged that the Palestinian share has actually declined due to the increased population and worsening leakage. He said villages and cities that are home to some 120,000 Palestinians have been affected.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not been willing to renegotiate water access without a larger peace deal — which seems highly unlikely, at least in the near future.
In the meantime, foreign governments have attempted to help the Palestinians improve their water network. Since 2000, the American government's USAID has spent tens of millions of dollars upgrading some 600 miles of pipelines, mostly in the West Bank.
As Palestinians in the West Bank fast from dawn to dusk in scorching heat during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, tens of thousands of people have been affected by a drought that has greatly reduced the flow to their taps.
Israel admits it's been forced to cut water supplies to the parched area, saying that nearby Jewish settlements have also been affected. But Palestinian areas appear to have been hit much harder, and both sides are blaming each other.
The water shortage has harmed farmers, forced people to bathe less and created a booming business for tanker trucks that deliver water.
Israel blames it on the unusually early summer heat and the Palestinians' refusal to cooperate with Israel on renovating their leaky pipe system. Palestinians say the shortage is evidence of the uneven distribution of water from an underground aquifer — which was enshrined in an outdated peace agreement.
Israel Water Authority spokesman Uri Schor said Israel sells the Palestinians 64 million cubic meters of water each year, double the amount stipulated in the 1995 accords. He said that to protect the groundwater, Israel has reduced supplies to both Palestinian and Israeli communities in the West Bank, without providing exact figures.
Schor accused the Palestinians of refusing to convene the Joint Water Committee, a body established by the Oslo Accords to manage the shared water resources. Without the committee, Schor says, it's impossible to approve repairs to infrastructure — and damaged pipes can drain away up to a third of supplies.
"The Palestinians are taking advantage of this to say Israel is taking our water," he said. "This is rubbish. The area has a problem and this can be solved by upgrading all the infrastructure, but the Palestinians veto this."
Water shortages have hit Israeli settlements as well, although to a lesser degree.
Esther Allouch, spokeswoman for the Samaria Regional Council, a group of settlements in the northern West Bank, said the hilltop settlement of Tapuah, with a population of 1,000, had a three-day shortage recently and also needed to bring in water tankers, which her council pays for.
Over the weekend, nearly all the 20,000 residents of the Israeli city of Ariel in the West Bank experienced a half-hour water interruption. Allouch said settlements are suspending irrigation of farmland and reducing their use of dishwashers and showers.
"For years we have been saying that the infrastructure in Judea and Samaria is not sufficient," she said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.
Some Palestinian villages in the West Bank and some isolated Israeli settlements are not connected to the national water grid, relying instead on local underground supplies.
Israeli environmental advocate Gidon Bromberg says the water shortage is "outrageous."
"The fact there is excess water in Israel means for very first time, the natural water can be shared at low cost to Israel and high gain to Palestinians and Israelis together," said Bromberg, the director of EcoPeace Middle East, a group that promotes region-wide environmental cooperation.
In Salem, a village of 7,000 people in the northern West Bank, Israel has slowed the water flow by two-thirds for a month now, said local water engineer Wahed Hamdan. What remains is further diminished by a leaky pipe system installed in 1982, he said.
To cope with the diminished flow, Salem has instituted a rotation regime between neighborhoods, Hamdan said. Residents use pumps to bring the trickle to storage tanks on their roofs but the weak stream cannot reach homes on the outskirts of the village.
When the water runs out, Mohammed Fahmi, 22, does a brisk trade supplying the village homes via 800-gallon (3,000-liter) tankers, which he delivers for about $20 per truck — which can quadruple a family's monthly water bill.
The water comes from wells drilled by the Palestinian Authority. But there's often not enough for everyone. "Some people wait two days until I can deliver," Fahmi said.
Suleiman Hasan, a driver from Salem, said he is showering less to save water. His garden has dried up, and his olive tree has turned yellow.
By contrast, in the West Bank's political center of Ramallah, water is delivered twice a week, and the pressure is high enough to reach rooftop storage tanks without extra pumping. Usually, supplies last until the next delivery.
Under interim peace accords signed in 1995, Israel controls 80 percent of the aquifer while the Palestinian Authority is allocated 20 percent. Israel also draws water from the Sea of Galilee and from desalinization, sources that are not available to the Palestinians. Israel is required by the peace accords to sell additional water to the Palestinians.
The Oslo Accords, which divided up the natural water resources, were intended to last for five years, pending a final peace agreement. But they remain in effect after two decades of failed peace efforts.
Palestinian Water Authority director Mazen Ghoneim said the joint committee has not met in five years because Israelis use it to force Palestinians to approve water projects for Israeli settlements, which the Palestinians and most of the international community consider illegal.
Ghoneim demanded a renegotiation of the 80-20 ratio of water sharing in the West Bank and alleged that the Palestinian share has actually declined due to the increased population and worsening leakage. He said villages and cities that are home to some 120,000 Palestinians have been affected.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not been willing to renegotiate water access without a larger peace deal — which seems highly unlikely, at least in the near future.
In the meantime, foreign governments have attempted to help the Palestinians improve their water network. Since 2000, the American government's USAID has spent tens of millions of dollars upgrading some 600 miles of pipelines, mostly in the West Bank.
27 june 2016
Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, sent a letter to senior Israeli government, military and water officials demanding that they cease cutting the water supply to Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank.
“In violation of int’l treaties, Israel has cut water supply up to 70%, leaving homes with no running water and causing factory shutdowns, severe damage to agriculture, deaths of livestock,” said the center.
According to media reports and calls to Adalah, from West Bank residents, Mekorot, the Israeli water company, has significantly reduced the amount of water it is supplying to West Bank Palestinians, since early June 2016. These water cutbacks are expected to continue throughout the summer.
According to reports, WAFA informs, the Israeli state notified the Palestinian water authority that, starting in June, the supply of water piped to the West Bank would be cut from previous levels by some 50 to 70 percent.
This cutback has intensified an already existing water shortage faced by Palestinian residents across the West Bank that results from Israeli control over fresh water sources.
In her letter to Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Major General Yoav Mordechai, and Mekorot national water company CEO Shimon Ben Hamo, Adalah lawyer Muna Haddad detailed the serious repercussions of water cutbacks to West Bank residents.
“The reduction in water amounts and pressure prevents the filling of holding reservoirs in the Palestinian communities. As a result, in some of the communities, including the villages of Salfit, Azmut, Salem and Dir Al-Hatab in the northern West Bank, water flow to residential homes has been almost completely cut for more than two weeks.
“The cuts have also caused factory shutdowns, damage to gardens and agricultural lands, and the deaths of livestock due to dehydration. The situation, exacerbated by a period of heavy heat over the past several weeks and that is expected to continue through the summer months, is causing significant harm to West Bank residents,” Attorney Haddad wrote.
Adalah’s letter, sent on 23 June 2016, also highlighted the dramatic difference in access/supply of water to Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Israeli Jewish settlers.
“Even before this decision, [to cut the water supply to the West Bank] which does not apply to Israeli Jewish settlements, the water access gap between Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers in the West Bank was enormous.”
The center noted that, “Palestinian residents, for example, are provided with an average of 70 liters of water a day while the minimal average daily water consumption recommended by the World Health Organization set at 100 liters. Israeli Jewish settlers in the West Bank, on the other hand, have access to more than 300 liters per person per day.”
In the letter, Adalah also noted that the cuts in water supply to Palestinian residents of the West Bank violate international conventions ratified by Israel including: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which determines the right to an adequate standard of living, and specifically details the right to food and the basic needs of human existence – including the right to water; Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child likewise determines that signatory states are obligated to provide clean drinking water; Articles 47 of the Hague Convention and 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention forbid pillaging which, in this case, would apply to Israel’s practice of transferring West Bank water resources from Palestinian residents to Israeli Jewish settlers.
“Given these severe violations of basic human rights guaranteed by international law, Adalah demands that COGAT, the Infrastructure Minister, and Mekorot immediately halt cuts in the water supply to Palestinian residents of the West Bank.”
“In violation of int’l treaties, Israel has cut water supply up to 70%, leaving homes with no running water and causing factory shutdowns, severe damage to agriculture, deaths of livestock,” said the center.
According to media reports and calls to Adalah, from West Bank residents, Mekorot, the Israeli water company, has significantly reduced the amount of water it is supplying to West Bank Palestinians, since early June 2016. These water cutbacks are expected to continue throughout the summer.
According to reports, WAFA informs, the Israeli state notified the Palestinian water authority that, starting in June, the supply of water piped to the West Bank would be cut from previous levels by some 50 to 70 percent.
This cutback has intensified an already existing water shortage faced by Palestinian residents across the West Bank that results from Israeli control over fresh water sources.
In her letter to Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Major General Yoav Mordechai, and Mekorot national water company CEO Shimon Ben Hamo, Adalah lawyer Muna Haddad detailed the serious repercussions of water cutbacks to West Bank residents.
“The reduction in water amounts and pressure prevents the filling of holding reservoirs in the Palestinian communities. As a result, in some of the communities, including the villages of Salfit, Azmut, Salem and Dir Al-Hatab in the northern West Bank, water flow to residential homes has been almost completely cut for more than two weeks.
“The cuts have also caused factory shutdowns, damage to gardens and agricultural lands, and the deaths of livestock due to dehydration. The situation, exacerbated by a period of heavy heat over the past several weeks and that is expected to continue through the summer months, is causing significant harm to West Bank residents,” Attorney Haddad wrote.
Adalah’s letter, sent on 23 June 2016, also highlighted the dramatic difference in access/supply of water to Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Israeli Jewish settlers.
“Even before this decision, [to cut the water supply to the West Bank] which does not apply to Israeli Jewish settlements, the water access gap between Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers in the West Bank was enormous.”
The center noted that, “Palestinian residents, for example, are provided with an average of 70 liters of water a day while the minimal average daily water consumption recommended by the World Health Organization set at 100 liters. Israeli Jewish settlers in the West Bank, on the other hand, have access to more than 300 liters per person per day.”
In the letter, Adalah also noted that the cuts in water supply to Palestinian residents of the West Bank violate international conventions ratified by Israel including: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which determines the right to an adequate standard of living, and specifically details the right to food and the basic needs of human existence – including the right to water; Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child likewise determines that signatory states are obligated to provide clean drinking water; Articles 47 of the Hague Convention and 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention forbid pillaging which, in this case, would apply to Israel’s practice of transferring West Bank water resources from Palestinian residents to Israeli Jewish settlers.
“Given these severe violations of basic human rights guaranteed by international law, Adalah demands that COGAT, the Infrastructure Minister, and Mekorot immediately halt cuts in the water supply to Palestinian residents of the West Bank.”
