We Stand out on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Forty-five years after the UN declared November 29 to be annually marked as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the Alliance took to Boston's streets with our banners and signs, and distributed hundreds of flyers. We engaged in discussions with passers-by, most of them supportive and happy to see us there.
There were about 30 people there and we distributed 300 flyers - not bad for a Tuesday lunchtime!
Water Fact: November 28, 2022
COP 27: Israel greenwashes on the world stage
The 27th UN Climate Change Conference (Nov. 6-18 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt) was the first COP in which Israel participated. With a large delegation led by President Isaac Herzog and a $1.4 million pavilion hosting 36 events, Israel utilized the forum as a major public relations exercise and business opportunity showcasing its technological prowess and water expertise.
As President Herzog told the gathering on Nov. 7, Israel “has the capability and know-how to deflect severe water shortages and to offer solutions to food insecurity. We are eager to share all our expertise and practical tools: that is what a Renewable Middle East is all about.”
With Israel poised to inaugurate a far-right government that has vowed to accelerate the seizure of West Bank land and water resources, Herzog described the ‘Renewable Middle East’ as “a regional ecosystem of sustainable peace.”
As an example of a “creative, win-win-win partnership,” he pointed to the deal negotiated by Israel, Jordan and the UAE last year under which Israel would annually export to Jordan 200 million cubic meters of potable desalinated water in return for 600 megawatts of solar power exported from a solar park to be built by the UAE in Jordan. With much fanfare, Jordan, Israel and the UAE signed an MOU for the agreement at the beginning of the COP.
The COP-timed message that Israel has innovative solutions to solve the world’s water problems was given a full court press from the US to the Philippines in opinion pieces signed by Israel’s ambassadors.
It was given the US stamp of approval in a panel in Israel’s pavilion on ‘Water reuse to address climate challenges’ that included an administrator with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who, in glowing terms, underscored Israel’s water accomplishments. The EPA in 2018 had signed a deal with an Israeli water start up brokered by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, the Republican party’s largest donor, who also lavishly funded Israel’s settlements.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh’s description at COP27 of Israel’s theft of Palestinian water resources, uprooting of olive trees and destruction of the environment made no discernible ripple at an event resembling at times a trade fair and lobbyist jamboree, with 10 Israeli companies presenting their wares in a ‘Climate Action Innovation Zone’ and no fewer than 636 fossil fuel lobbyists in attendance.
Banner Design by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press
Water Fact: November 15
Israel continues using water as a weapon in its brutal assault on Palestinians.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a person requires 100 litres of water a day to ensure that basic needs are met.
In the West Bank, Israelis and illegal settlers use between 240 and 300 litres of water per person per day. Palestinians are allowed about 73 litres per person—and in some communities receive as little as 20 litres. Some villages receive water once every 15 days.
Israel denies Palestinians the right to dig wells on their own land, and forbids the collection of rainwater.
In the Gaza Strip, 98% of the 2 million residents (992,000 of them children) are without clean drinking water to Israel’s continuing assaults and refusal to fix the water and sewage infrastructure it has distroyed.
97% of the water in the Gaza Strip is unfit for human consumption, and at least 100,000 people are completely disconnected from the water network. The purchase of potable tanked or bottled water is beyond most people’s means.
This situation is a leading cause of child mortality. Gaza's children are facing a deadly health epidemic of unprecedented proportions.
Babies are suffering from dehydration, vomiting, life-threatening diarrhea, and fever, sharp rises in gastroenteritis, kidney disease, anemia, pediatric cancer, marasmus (a disease of severe malnutrition), and "blue baby syndrome," increased infant mortality, and an "alarming magnitude" of stunting, which can affect brain development. Diarrheal disease has risen to epidemic levels, as well as spikes in salmonella and even typhoid fever caused by fecal contamination.
The devastating water crisis has forced hospitals in the Gaza Strip to reduce the cleaning and sterilizing of medical facilities.
