Annexing the Aquifers

“The water problem started from the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestine but was exacerbated with the Oslo II interim agreement between the PLO and the Israeli government in 1995. The Oslo Agreement stipulated “the equitable utilization of joint water resources for implementation in and beyond the interim period.” But in reality, this has never happened.

The agreement which was supposed to be an interim period of five years bounded the development of Palestinian water resources and was framed on the assumption that Palestinian water needs were 70–80 mcm per year and that the interim water development must be managed through a Palestinian-Israeli mechanism. The topics of ‘common interest’ (water being one) would be further delineated under the permanent status negotiations.

The failure to reach a permanent agreement has meant the inequitable distribution of the West Bank groundwater resources with 15% allocated to the Palestinians and 85% to Israel.”

Read this comprehensive and succinct report:

Annexing the Aquifers: Israel and the Water Crisis in Occupied Palestine

A Palestinian woman fills a jerrycan with spring water in Salfit, north of Ramallah. (Photo: File)

In the heat and during a pandemic when hand washing is essential...

“The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) stated, on Thursday, that Israeli authorities drastically cut the amount of water allocated to the West Bank districts of Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron, in recent days, Palestinian WAFA News Agency reported.”

Israel Cuts Palestinian Water Supply in West Bank

This photo was in the article.

Because they can.

“In recent weeks, soldiers have repeatedly shot holes in water tanks on the roofs of homes in Kafr Qadum. The shooting takes place during the weekly protests against the closure of the eastern exit from the village, which connects the village to the city of Nablus and passes through the expansion of the settlement of Kedumim. The residents have been holding the weekly protests since 2011.”

Even during a pandemic: Soldiers shoot holes in water tanks at Kafr Qadum

This photograph is from the article.

Fact #156: How Israel Uses Water as a Weapon

In summer, the demand for water in the occupied West Bank increases by about 30%. Yet this week—despite the necessity of water for combatting the coronavirus—Israel drastically reduced the amount allotted to the West Bank districts of Ramallah, Hebron, Jenin, and Nablus. 

In previous summers, Nablus residents received running water on average once every five to eight days and at times once every ten to fourteen days. 

Israel restricts the average Palestinian to 87 litres of water per day, far less than the WHO minimum of 100. Nablus residents must live on only 65 l/p/d. In some neighborhoods, and for people in the refugee camps, average consumption has been as low as 50 l/p/d.

Israel continues to destroy and confiscate existing water infrastructure, and limits Palestinian access to their local water sources such as fresh water springs, drilled wells, and rainwater cisterns.

This week, the Israeli army demolished an artesian water well and confiscated 25 water pipes, each 8 meters long, in the northern Jordan Valley.

In the same area, illegal Israeli settlers leveled Palestinians lands, connected a 4 km underground water line for their own use, and placed a water tank on Palestinians’ land.

Last year, in two weeks alone, Israel’s military destroyed water connections in the West Bank that had supplied running water to 18,000 people in two villages in Nablus.

Sources: imimc , btselem, ochaopt , wafa , MEM