Israel rations Palestinians to trickle of water | Amnesty International

Israel rations Palestinians to trickle of water | Amnesty International:

" 27 October 2009
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.

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 a new extensive report, Amnesty International revealed the extent to which Israel’s discriminatory water policies and practices are denying Palestinians their right to access to water.

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.

Numbering about 450,000, the settlers use as much or more water than the Palestinian population of some 2.3 million.

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.

Stringent restrictions imposed in recent years by Israel on the entry into Gaza of material and equipment necessary for the development and repair of infrastructure have caused further deterioration of the water and sanitation situation in Gaza, which has reached crisis point.

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.

Others resort to water-saving measures which are detrimental to their and their families’ health and which hinder socio-economic development.

“Over more than 40 years of occupation, restrictions imposed by Israel on the Palestinians’ access to water have prevented the development of water infrastructure and facilities in the OPT, consequently denying hundreds of thousand of Palestinians the right to live a normal life, to have adequate food, housing, or health, and to economic development,” said Donatella Rovera.

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.

Restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of people and goods in the OPT further compound the difficulties Palestinians face when trying to carry out water and sanitation projects, or even just to distribute small quantities of water.

Water tankers are forced to take long detours to avoid Israeli military checkpoints and roads which are out of bounds to Palestinians, resulting in steep increases in the price of water.

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 comparison, irrigation sprinklers water the fields in the midday sun in nearby Israeli settlements, where much water is wasted as it evaporates before even reaching the ground.

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.

“Water is a basic need and a right, but for many Palestinians obtaining even poor-quality subsistence-level quantities of water has become a luxury that they can barely afford,” said Donatella Rovera.

“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.”"
Read the report: Troubled Water - Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water [.PDF]



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Water convoy to besieged villages in the south Hebron hills - 26.9. 09

Water convoy To villages in the south Hebron hills - 26.9. 09:

Israel's cruel and criminal water siege on these small villages is an attempt to force the inhabitants to leave so that settlers can take over their land.

"Some 100 Israeli activists left Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to bring water to several isolated villages in the South Hebron Mount. These villages suffer more than anywhere else from Israel's racist water policy, as they lack connection to water pipes, and suffer from army attacks on what few water wells and deposits they have. Busses where harassed several times on the way, and stopped completely near the Carmel illegal settlement, where soldiers claimed the area was a closed military zone, though no warrant was shown. Activists got off the busses and started marching, passing the bewildered soldiers and policemen and moving on towards their destination. Attempts to stop the spontaneous march failed, and the hostile forces left the area.

Meeting with Palestinian partners, activists mounted water trucks and tractors and traveled the dessert until they reached a physical block on the road, put there by the army to make Palestinians' lives harder. A mass direct action, backed by a bulldozer hired for the cause, broke the road open and allowed water trucks to pass. At this point four soldiers appeared and tried to arrest the driver for the bulldozer, or at least stop it from moving. And so the activists split, leaving a small group to safe guard the bulldozer and allowing the majority to move on to the final destination.

It took the small group that stayed back two hours to convince the soldiers to leave and to secure the safe return of the bulldozer and its owner to their home. Meanwhile, the main group reached the destined villages and transferred eight trucks full of water to local residents. Four army vehicles showed up too late to stop the action, and though declaring the area a closed military zone (this time with a warrant) - could not really do anything to the activists.

With the road open, the water at its rightful place and with no arrests or wounded - the action was declared a success.

Partner organizations in the protest convoy: Anarchists Against the Wall, Humans without Borders, Banki, Bat Shalom, Gush Shalom, ICAHD, Public Committee against Torture in Israel, AIC, Tarabut Hithabrut, Hadash, Yesh Gvul, Combatants for Peace, Machsomwatch, Maki, Meretz, Sadaqa-Reut, New Profile, Coalition of Women for Peace, Physicians for Human Rights, Taayush Arab Jewish Partnership;

Palestinian organizations supporting the water campaign:
House of Water &Environment, Life Source, Medical Relief Society, Palestinian Environmental NGOs Net work (PENGON), Palestinian Farmers Union, Palestinian Hydrology Group, Palestinian Institute for Water Issues Training, Palestinian Peasants Union, Union of Agricultural Work Committees;

International organizations supporting the water campaign:
International Solidarity Movement, International Women's Peace Services, Michigan Peacemakers Team, CCIPPT-France Civil for Palestine."



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

UN calls for immediate opening of Gaza crossings

UN urges Israel ease Gaza siege for water crisis:

"Press TV, Gaza"

Related News:
Gaza water crisis prompts UN call for immediate opening of crossings
Source: UN News Center

3 September 2009 – The top United Nations humanitarian official in the occupied Palestinian territory today joined aid agencies in calling for the immediate opening of Gaza’s crossings to allow the entry of spare parts and materials critical to restoring the area’s water and sanitation services.

“The deterioration and breakdown of water and sanitation facilities in Gaza is compounding an already severe and protracted denial of human dignity in the Gaza Strip,” Maxwell Gaylard said in a joint statement issued today with the NGO Association for International Development Agencies (AIDA).

“At the heart of this crisis is a steep decline in standards of living for the people of Gaza, characterized by erosion of livelihoods, destruction and degradation of basic infrastructure, and a marked downturn in the delivery and quality of vital services in health, water and sanitation,” added Mr. Gaylard, the Deputy UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and UN Humanitarian Coordinator.

Israel’s closure of Gaza’s crossing points, imposed since June 2007, has meant that equipment and supplies needed for the construction, maintenance and operation of water and sanitation facilities have not been able to enter the area, leading to the deterioration of these services.

Currently, some 10,000 people do not have access to the water network, while another 60 per cent of Gaza’s population of 1.5 million do not have continuous access to water.

In addition, some 50 to 80 million litres of untreated and partially treated waste-water have been discharged daily into the Mediterranean Sea since January 2008, due to damage to sewage treatment facilities, lack of treatment capacity because of postponed plant upgrade projects, and a critical shortage of fuel and electricity necessary to operate them.

Mr. Gaylard and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called on the Israeli Government to take immediate steps to ensure the entry into Gaza of the necessary construction and repair materials to respond to the water and sanitation crisis.

“Without addressing both the immediate basic needs of the population and facilitating the longer-term development and management of the degraded water and sanitation sector, public health and the wider environment will remain at significant risk,” said the Humanitarian Coordinator.

“Pollution does not recognise borders or barriers, and communities throughout the region are threatened by the deficiencies of Gaza’s water and sanitation system,” he added.

Also read:
New UN report spotlights humanitarian crisis triggered by blockade of Gaza
UN, aid agencies call for opening of Gaza crossings to allow rebuilding of schools



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Gazans suffer severe water shortage

Gazans suffering from severe water shortage:

"Press Tv Report from Gaza"



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Palestinians facing worst water shortage in 80 years

Palestinians facing worst water shortage in 80 years:

Press TV Report



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Mosaic News - Activist Boat heading to Gaza - Longest Held Female Palestinian Prisoner Released - 10/28/08: World News from the Middle East

Mosaic News - 10/28/08: World News from the Middle East:
"'Syria Condemns US Attack,' Dubai TV, UAE
'Victims of US Attack Mostly Cement Workers,' Syria TV, Syria
'Another Activists Boat Heading to Gaza,' Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
'Israel Releases Longest Held Female Palestinian Prisoner,' Nile TV, Egypt
'Israeli Knesset Sets Election Date,' IBA TV, Israel
'Britain and Fatwas,' Press TV, Iran
'Iran Reaches Out to GCC,' Abu Dhabi TV, UAE
'Arab World and Water Shortage,' Al Arabiya TV, UAE
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani."

Water in the Jordan Valley - El Farsia

Water in the Jordan Valley - El Farsia:
"The Israeli authorities do not let the farmers of El Farsia, in the occupied Jordan Valley, to use water from their own wells."

Drying up Palestine - prologue + chapter 1

Drying up Palestine - prologue + chapter 1 - gourna films on blip.tv:

"Drying up Palestine is a 28-minute documentary by Rima Essa and Peter Snowdon about water access issues in the occupied West Bank. The film was produced by Gourna Films for the Palestinian NGO House of Water and Environment. It describes the stresses and strains imposed on Palestinan society by Israel's almost total control over water resources in the occupied territories. The sequences form an arc covering the main episodes in the history of this water grab from 1967 to the present day.

After a brief prologue setting the scene, chapter one begins in Bardala, a village in the Jordan Valley, whose traditional water sources were dried up by the first deep wells drilled by the Israelis in the mid-70s to supply the agricultural settlements they were establishing at that time. The villagers describe the impact that this has had on their lives and livelihoods to the present day. The shadow of more recent forms of harrassment is never far from their minds."

This is the first 'chapter' of Drying up Palestine, a 28-minute documentary on water issues in the occupied West Bank, made by Rima Essa and Peter Snowdon.
To See the Full Film - Please Click here

Article by Amira Hass about water in the West Bank from Haaretz

The West Bank's acute water crisis - 21 Aug 08

The West Bank's acute water crisis - 21 Aug 08:

"The Middle East is in the grip of a drought.
In Israel, it's just beginning to have an impact, but just a few miles away in the occupied West Bank, the crisis is much more acute.

Nour Odeh examines the situation in the village of Saffarin, near Tulkarem."

The quest for drinking water in Gaza - 22 Jun 08

The quest for drinking water in Gaza - 22 Jun 08:

"During Israel's year-long blockade of Gaza, Palestinians have struggled to find tangible improvements in their lives.

A recent increase in the flow of goods into the territory following a 'truce' between Israel and Hamas has softened the situation, but shelves in many local stores remain bare.

One necessity hard to come by is drinking water, which, as Al Jazeera's Sami Zeidan discovered, was more difficult to buy than some other rather odd products."

UNRWA calls on Israel and Egypt to fully reopen Gaza crossings
14/07/2008
Source: The Palestinian Information Center

GAZA,(PIC)-- John Ging the director of UNRWA operations in the Gaza Strip called Monday on Israel and Egypt to fully reopen the Gaza commercial crossings and the Rafah border crossing, highlighting that the closure of these crossings is illegal and against international law on human rights.

In the presence of heads of universities and humanitarian institutions, Ging told a press conference that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is still worsening despite the Palestinian full commitment to the ceasefire.

"As long as the Palestinians are fully committed to the truce, why don't Israel and Egypt immediately open the crossings in order to make the Palestinians in Gaza feel that there is a positive change in their life?" the UN official questioned.

The UN official stressed that at this time last year about 400 trucks were allowed into Gaza and now only 100 are let in.

The UN official said that in general the crossings are still closed and must be reopened immediately including the Rafah crossing which is considered a vital artery for the Palestinians because the closure of these crossings is contrary to international law.

The UN official underlined that the unjust siege led to the collapse of all aspects of life in Gaza including education, but the UNRWA had succeeded through great efforts and cooperation of universities and community organizations to stop its deterioration during the second semester and to achieve significant improvements at the level of students and teachers.

For their part, heads of universities and humanitarian organizations hailed in their speeches UNRWA's success in accomplishing difficult tasks during a short period of time and saving the education in Gaza from collapse.

In a new development, the number of Israeli siege victims rose to 208 after three Palestinian patients were proclaimed dead on Monday.

The victims were attempting to get permits to leave Gaza for medical treatment through the Rafah crossing, the popular committee against the siege reported in a statement received by the PIC.

Water-rich West Bank suffering from shortage of water

Water-rich West Bank suffering from shortage of water:

JERUSALEM, 3 July 2008 (IRIN) - Palestinians in the West Bank consume far less water than people in Israel, but they are likely to face a shortage this summer, the Israeli human rights group B'tselem has warned.

"The chronic water shortage results in large part from Israel's discriminatory policy in distributing the joint water resources in the West Bank, and the limits it places on the Palestinian Authority's ability to drill new wells," B'tselem said in a new position paper.

"The average water consumption per capita of Israelis is 3.5 times that of Palestinians," B'tselem said, adding "access to water without discrimination is recognised by international law as a fundamental human right."

Palestinians consume about 66 litres per capita per day, though in some areas that amount can drop by two-thirds.

Israel tends to cut the amount to Palestinians during the summer months, the paper said, in order to supply the needs of Israeli settlers. According to most experts, international law bans Israel's settlements, though the Jewish state does not accept this opinion.

The situation is being exacerbated by a very dry winter, which is the region's rainy season. Only about 64 percent of the average amount of rain fell this year in the northern West Bank, while in the south it was 55 percent. Experts have warned of the need to conserve water.

The Palestinian Water Authority reckons it lacks up to 70 million cubic metres of water to meet the needs of the 2.2 million people in the West Bank and has asked Israel's national water authority Mekorot to provide emergency assistance.

Mekorot

Dani Sofer, from Mekorot, told IRIN that while his organisation "is looking favourably at the request", technical problems might get in the way.

"They need the extra amounts of water in some places where we don't have a network connection," he said, adding that he, too, was concerned by the situation.

"They really don't have enough water to drink," he said, noting that already Mekorot was supplying about 50 million cubic metres - more than it was required to under the Oslo Accords.

Critics of those agreements from the 1990s said they did not take all the Palestinians' needs into consideration.

Israel controls almost all the water in the Palestinian territory, and pumps more out of the West Bank for its own use than the total amount it allocates to the Palestinians, B'tselem said.

The few drilling projects the Palestinians had been allowed to attempt had failed due to a lack of resources and expertise, according to Israeli water experts. A recent successful water project in the West Bank town of Samua, was very much a one-off.

"Heavy economic burden"

Over 220,000 Palestinians in the West Bank live in villages not connected to a water network and an additional 190,000 have a very limited connection, forcing them to buy water specially tankered in at 3-6 times the price of normal water, B’tselem said.

"Due to the high unemployment and poverty rates in the West Bank, the expenditure on water has become a heavy economic burden on a significant section of the population," it added.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) recently said many people ended up drinking from contaminated or questionable sources. In the village of Burin, for example, those who cannot afford the tankered water, drink from dirty springs, potentially exposing themselves and their children to frequent and serious illnesses. Geography and economics also play a role. While Israel is moving in the direction of relying more and more on desalination plants as part of a national plan to fight recurring drought, Palestinians in the West Bank have no access to the sea. An idea was floated to have a desalination plant at Hadera in central Israel which would connect to Palestinian territory, but it would have been costly, and so far no money for the project has been forthcoming. Compounding the shortages is the fact that most Palestinian wastewater remains untreated, damaging aquifers and not allowing reuse. Mekorot said the number of illegal Palestinian hook-ups in some places was causing large amounts of water to go to waste. shg/at/cb

Theme(s): (IRIN) Early Warning, (IRIN) Human Rights, (IRIN) Water & Sanitation