In Stockholm at the end of August, World Water Week focused
on the needs of impoverished communities for clean water – or any water at all.
A United Nations report in March said the world faces a 40 percent shortfall in
water supplies in the next 15 years due to urbanization, population growth and
growing demand for water for food production, energy and industry. But the root
cause of water shortage is often political. Occasionally, it is deliberately
inflicted.
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| Swimming pool in Eilat |
In the West Bank, while Israelis water their lawns,
irrigate crops and swim in Olympic-sized pools, Palestinians living a few
kilometers away are sweltering and thirsty. A report from the United Nations
found that the average Israeli settler uses 300 liters of water per day. But Israeli
restrictions ensure that the average Palestinian in the occupied West Bank gets
only about 70 liters, well below the 100 liter daily amount advocated by the
World Health Organization.
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| Watering the stock: Palestine |
Despite its location in a region thought to be
perennially dry, Israel-Palestine actually has ample natural freshwater
resources in the form of underwater aquifers and the Jordan River. Palestinians
in the West Bank and Israeli settlers live in equal proximity to these
resources, which should allow for equal consumption. But ever since its
foundation, Israel has controlled the water supply for the region, first by
military edicts, and later through Mekarot,
the Israeli national water company.
To this day, Israel requires Palestinians
to obtain permits from the military to build new water infrastructure. If they
build new wells, springs, or even rain-collecting containers without Israeli
permission, soldiers confiscate or destroy them, often without prior
notification.
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| Settlers vandalize Palestinian water tanks |
Israeli settlers, emboldened by government indifference,
cruelly vandalize Palestinian community water storage tanks. Fifty-six water
springs near Israeli settlements have become the target of “systematic settler
activities.”
Even when Palestinians attempt to go through the ‘proper’
Israeli channels, they’re met with innumerable obstacles. Israeli regulatory
organizations have created a bureaucratic nightmare for West Bank residents
attempting to acquire permits to either build new instillations or repair the
region’s infrastructure.
The most striking inequality lies in the division of the
Mountain Aquifer, the only underground water source that Palestinians in the
West Bank are allowed to access. Despite it being the sole water source for the
territory, Israeli regulations ensure that 80% of the rain that falls on the
West Bank flows underground to Israel, while Palestinian extraction is limited
to 20% of the aquifer’s total capacity.
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| Palestinian boy totes water for his family |
Water, a life-giving natural resource, is both a human
need and a human right. Whether in Detroit, or California, or Palestine,
deliberate policy should not deprive the most vulnerable
of a region’s ample resources.
References:
Shakir, L. (2015, August 24). Palestine: “Dying of Thirst.” The Drought is
Deliberately Inflicted by Israel. Global Research. http://www.globalresearch.ca/think-californias-drought-is-bad-try-palestines/5471179
United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory. (2012, March). Special
Focus: How Dispossession Happens. https://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_springs_report_march_2012_english.pdf
Vatican Radio. (2015, August 24). Stockholm World Water
Week Focuses on Development. http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/08/24/stockholm_world_water_week_focuses_on_development/1167141
Water Resources in Israel. https://waterresourcesandersen.wordpress.com/
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