Nowhere is freshwater scarcer than in the Arab world

Water scarcity contributes to violence.

 “Water can even be wielded as a weapon. In Syria, the Islamic State has seized control of the upstream basins of the two main rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The fact that nearly half of all Arabs depend on freshwater inflows from non-Arab countries, including Turkey and the upstream states on the Nile River, may serve to exacerbate water insecurity further.”

Arab World’s biggest Problem not Terrorism or Fundamentalism but Water! [via Informed Comment]

"Let’s get one thing straight — there has never been a 'water shortage' in the settlements."

Palestinian child carries water gallon in Qarawat Bani Hassan village, West Bank, May 23, 2015. (photo: Ahmad al-Bazz / Activestills.org)

Israelis would like the world to believe that water shortages affect Palestinians and Jews in the same way.

“Yes, there were several recent instances in which the water supply was cut off temporarily in a number of settlements (generally for a few hours), during which the authorities provided settlers water from water tanks. One can safely say that not a single settler was left thirsty.”

Using stolen water to irrigate stolen land [972+ Mag]

Failing Sanitation Infrastructure in Gaza →

Report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on the shortage of water infrastructure in Gaza:

the longstanding shortage of adequate sanitation infrastructure in the Gaza Strip has resulted in the discharge of around 90 million litres of untreated or partially treated sewage into the sea every day, posing serious health and environmental hazards. Development of water and sanitation infrastructure has been severely impacted by the import restrictions imposed by Israel in its nine-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Gaza: shortage of sanitation infrastructure raises health and environmental concerns [via OCHA]

Polluted beach in Gaza city, June 2016. Photo by OCHA

No Shortage of Discrimination →

The last sentence says it all:

Minister Ghoneim, meanwhile, sums up the Israeli position: “Israel treats us like business customers, not as people having a legal right to the water sources in our country.”

No Shortage of Discrimination When It Comes to Water in the West Bank [via Haaretz — behind paywall]

Photo Credit: Amira Hass [via Haaretz]