{"id":3893,"date":"2017-11-29T19:43:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T19:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/?p=3893"},"modified":"2018-01-02T20:07:51","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T20:07:51","slug":"the-occupation-of-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/?p=3893","title":{"rendered":"The Occupation of Water"},"content":{"rendered":"
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29 November 2017, 12:51 UTC<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The legacy of Israel\u2019s 50-year occupation of the Palestinian territories has been systematic human rights violations on a mass scale. One of its most devastating consequences is the impact of Israel\u2019s discriminatory policies on Palestinians\u2019 access to adequate supplies of clean and safe water.<\/p>\n

Soon after Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, in June 1967, the Israeli military authorities consolidated complete power over all water resources and water-related infrastructure in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). 50 years on, Israel continues to control and restrict Palestinian access to water in the OPT to a level which neither meets their needs nor constitutes a fair distribution of shared water resources.<\/p>\n

In November 1967 the Israeli authorities issued Military Order 158, which stated that Palestinians could not construct any new water installation without first obtaining a permit from the Israeli army. Since then, the extraction of water from any new source or the development of any new water infrastructure would require permits from Israel, which are near impossible to obtain. Palestinians living under Israel\u2019s military occupation continue to suffer the devastating consequences of this order until today. They are unable to drill new water wells, install pumps or deepen existing wells, in addition to being denied access to the Jordan River and fresh water springs. Israel even controls the collection of rain water throughout most of the West Bank, and rainwater harvesting cisterns owned by Palestinian communities are often destroyed by the Israeli army. As a result, some 180 Palestinian communities in rural areas in the occupied West Bank have no access to running water, according to OCHA. Even in towns and villages which are connected to the water network, the taps often run dry.<\/p>\n

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Palestinian women fill bottles of water in the West Bank village of Qarawah Bani Zeid. \u00a9 ABBAS MOMANI\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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While restricting Palestinian access to water, Israel has effectively developed its own water infrastructure and water network in the West Bank for the use of its own citizens in Israel and in the settlements – that are illegal under international law. The Israeli state-owned water company Mekorot has systematically sunk wells and tapped springs in the occupied West Bank to supply its population, including those living in illegal settlements with water for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes. While Mekorot sells some water to Palestinian water utilities, the amount is determined by the Israeli authorities. As a result of continuous restrictions, many Palestinian communities in the West Bank have no choice but to purchase water brought in by trucks at a much high prices ranging from 4 to 10 USD per cubic metre. In some of the poorest communities, water expenses can, at times, make up half of a family\u2019s monthly income.<\/p>\n

The Israeli authorities also restrict Palestinians\u2019 access to water by denying or restricting their access to large parts of the West Bank. Many parts of the West Bank have been declared \u201cclosed military areas\u201d, which Palestinians may not enter, because they are close to Israeli settlements, close to roads used by Israeli settlers, used for Israeli military training or protected nature reserves.<\/p>\n

Israeli settlers living alongside Palestinians in the West Bank \u2013 in some cases just a few hundred meters away – face no such restrictions and water shortages, and can enjoy and capitalize on well-irrigated farmlands and swimming pools.<\/p>\n

In Gaza, some 90-95 per cent of the water supply is contaminated and unfit for human consumption. Israel does not allow water to be transferred from the West Bank to Gaza, and Gaza\u2019s only fresh water resource, the Coastal Aquifer, is insufficient for the needs of the population and is being increasingly depleted by over-extraction and contaminated by sewage and seawater infiltration.<\/p>\n

The resulting disparity in access to water between Israelis and Palestinians is truly staggering. Water consumption by Israelis is at least four times that of Palestinians living in the OPT. Palestinians consume on average 73 litres of water a day per person, which is well below the World Health Organization\u2019s (WHO) recommended daily minimum of 100 litres per capita. In many herding communities in the West Bank, the water consumption for thousands of Palestinians is as low as 20 litres per person a day, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). By contrast, an average Israeli consumes approximately 300 litres of water a day.<\/p>\n

50 years on, it is time for the Israeli authorities to put an end to policies and practices which discriminate against Palestinians in the OPT and to address their desperate need for water security. The Israeli authorities must lift the restrictions currently in place which deny millions of Palestinians access to sufficient water to meet their personal and domestic needs as well as to enjoy their rights to water, food, health, work and an adequate standard of living.<\/p>\n

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A mural painted on the wall of a disused pumping station beside route 90, the main highway which stretches the length of the Jordan Valley. The writing reads, ‘Our water is our life so let\u2019s preserve it\u201d. In the Jordan Valley numerous springs and wells have been made redundant as the Mountain Aquifer on the western edge of the valley is increasingly exploited by the Israeli-state owned company Mekorot. \u00a9 Amnesty International<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Devastating toll on communities in the Jordan valley<\/strong><\/p>\n

In September 2017 Amnesty International researchers met with residents of the Jordan Valley and witnessed first-hand the catastrophic impact the water restrictions have had on people\u2019s daily lives.<\/p>\n

Ihab Saleh, a squash and cucumber farmer living in Ein al-Beida, a Palestinian village of about 1,600 people located in the northern part of the West Bank, is one of hundreds of thousands of people whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed by Israeli water restrictions. Over the past 25 years he has seen the local spring gradually dry up after the Israeli company Mekorot drilled two wells near the neighbouring Palestinian community of Bardala, to serve Mehola, an Israeli settlement. The amount of water the Israeli authorities allocate to the village has been decreasing over the years, he says, and has been fully cut off on numerous occasions.\u00a0Despite an agreement to compensate the Palestinian villages of Bardala and Ein al-Beida, since the mid-1970s, Israel has significantly reduced the amount of water available to both communities.<\/p>\n

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Ihab Saleh recounted to Amnesty International researchers how, at the beginning of September 2017, Israeli authorities cut the water supply to the village for five days claiming that residents had taken more than allotted to them through unauthorized means. Ihab\u2019s crops died due to this cut-off, with damages to his business of around 10,000 NIS (approximately 2,820 USD). He says there was no notice before the supply was cut, and there was no drinking water for any of the residents who had to travel five km to a neighbouring village to bring water in trucks. \u00a9 Amnesty International \u201cIn this village we want peace, whatever the Palestinian Authority says – we do. Whatever the Israeli army says – we do\u2026. all we want to do is farm our land,\u201d he told Amnesty International.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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One of two Mekorot pumping stations outside the village of Bardala. These pumping stations have caused springs in the villages of Ein al-Beida and Bardala to dry up completely, forcing the Palestinian community to be entirely reliant on the Israeli state-owned company for their domestic and agricultural water provision. \u00a9 Amnesty International<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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In addition to the farming villages, many Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley face severe restrictions as a consequence of Israel\u2019s control of Palestinian natural water resources. Often the land they live on is designated by Israel as a \u201cclosed military area\u201d. Not only is their access to water limited, they also live under the constant threat of forced evictions through demolition orders on their homes and properties.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Amnesty International<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Two families living beside highway 90 near the village of Ein Al-Beida have had their houses and property destroyed twice in the last two years. Most recently, in December 2016, the Israeli army destroyed two home structures and all of the water tanks belonging to the families.<\/p>\n

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Since Israeli authorities do not recognise the right of many Palestinian communities to live in Area C and refuse to allow them the necessary infrastructure, these families have no access to running water even though a Mekorot pipeline runs along the side of the highway less than 100 meters from their land. To get water they must go twice a day to the local water filling point run by the Mekorot company. \u00a9 Amnesty International<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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In al-Auja, a village of about 5,200 people, 10 kilometres north of Jericho in the Jordan Valley, the situation is much the same. In 1972, Mekorot sunk a well and established a pumping station, close to the Wadi Auja spring. According to residents, the spring used to provide a plentiful supply of water to the village and surrounding agricultural land via a series of irrigation channels.<\/p>\n

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The irrigation channels now lie empty. A villager shows Amnesty International\u2019s researcher a photo of the spring before it dried up. He explains how, in the early 1990s, there was year-round water supporting a prosperous farming community, one of the highest fruit producing areas in the Jordan Valley. \u00a9 Amnesty International<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Issa Nijoum is a former citrus farmer from Al-Auja who now only grows less water intensive crops such as squash and cucumber. In 2017, he only had access to water for 40 days during the growing season, which usually falls from February to March, and the squash crops were ruined. He explained that usually his crops require 120 days of water a year. \u00a9 Amnesty International<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The remnants of Issa Nijoum\u2019s ruined crop of squash, in a field on the outskirts of the village of Al-Auja. \u00a9 Amnesty International<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Even the Palestinian Authority does not realize that this used to be a centre for agriculture\u2026 People are left with no options. In 1967, when they [the Israeli authorities] started taking the water it was like a sickness in a body\u2026 slowly the land dried up.<\/div>\n