The World Health Organization and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recommend 100 liters of water per person per day as the minimum quantity for basic consumption.

The average per-person use in the Occupied Territories is 70 liters a day.

In Israel and the settlements, average water consumption per person is 348 liters a day.

Municipal water consumption of Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip is 584 liters per person a day, almost seven times greater than comparable consumption among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Three Features of the Water Shortage in the Occupied Territories:

1.) Lack of a Water Network

Among those particularly suffering from the water shortage are residents of villages and refugee camps in the Occupied Territories not connected to a running-water network. In the West Bank alone, as of June 2000, the number of such residents amounted to at least 215,000 persons living in more than 150 villages.

The principal water source for these people is rainwater, which is collected on rooftops and stored in cisterns near each house. This source meets their water-consumption needs for only a few months, generally from November to May. In the summer, these residents must collect water from nearby springs (if such exist) in plastic bottles and jerricans, and purchase water from private dealers at high prices.





2.) Discriminatory and Insufficient Supply of Water

When there is increased demand for water during the hot seasons for both Palestinians and Israeli settlers, Mekorot (the Israeli water company) discriminates and increases the amount of water supplied to the settlers, at the expense of supply to Palestinian towns. Reduction at times when water consumption increases is accomplished by closing the valve of the main water pipelines which direct water to Palestinian towns.





3.) Poor Water Quality

Unlike the West Bank, the worst problem in the Gaza Strip's water sector is not the shortage or irregular supply during the summer, but the poor quality of water flowing through the pipes. The poor condition of the water seriously affects the quality of life of the local residents and exposes them to severe heath risks. The sole local water source is the Gaza Aquifer, from which 96 percent of the water is drawn. Since the 1950s, this aquifer has become polluted and salinated, a process that has worsened with the increased consumption and pumping of water.

The main reason for the increased salt content of the aquifer is "overpumping." What occurs is that the amount of water pumped is appreciably greater than the rainfall that replenishes the aquifer's reserves.





Israel's control of the water sector in the Occupied Territories during the occupation entails violations of human rights and international law ;



1.) Violation of the right to proper subsistence and housing

2.) Violation of the right to health, resulting from the negative public health effect of the water shortage and consumption of poor-quality water

3.) Illegal exploitation of water resources of the Occupied Territories to benefit the settlements

4.) Implementation of a policy of discrimination between Palestinians and settlers in the supply of water.







Israel's water resources lie mainly under Palestinian land.



Villagers drink from wells and collect rain in rooftop tanks for washing.

In the dry summers, they buy water that is often polluted at exorbitant prices from green tractor trucks.

About 130,000 religious Jews live on West Bank land amid two million Palestinians. They make up less than 10 % of the population, but use 80 % of the water



"There is no single Israeli settlement without water, and they have good water and good pipes."



Palestinians say land is inseparable from the water that lies beneath it. They say the water is theirs.

But Israelis say they have a historical right to the water, which they have been tapping for decades.





Economic hardships for Palestinians



The water shortage has created an economic crisis for Arab villages in Gaza and the West Bank, which now cultivate only three percent of their farmland, down from more than a quarter 30 years ago, the Palestinian Hydrology Group said.

The well water is drying up slowly, and Palestinians depend on a new Israeli-Palestinian water committee to get permission to dig new wells.

But that committee has not met since last February, and no new wells have been dug.

"Water is not the dream any more. The approval to find water is the dream now," Tamimi said. "They (the Israelis) reduced the opportunities for self-sufficiency in food."

The decrease in cultivated land comes as travel restrictions imposed by Israel have forced unemployment rates to nearly 40 percent in the West Bank and 60 percent in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Monetary Authority.

Most Palestinians, who make an average $652 a year, cannot afford to buy $13 tanks of water every two weeks.

Not only is tank water expensive, it could be dangerous. In Gaza, Tamimi said, the fresh water isn't much better.

"Gaza is a disaster area. They drink water unfit for human beings, and even in some areas like Khan Yunis, they drink water unfit for agriculture," he said, adding that it was polluted with chemicals and pesticides.





Israel's annual consumption rate of water has grown tremendously due to the extended drought and its natural population growth combined with an additional one million immigrants who have come to Israel over the last decade. Shortage of water is probably the most crucial environmental problem facing Israel today, and new solutions must be found and applied to address the dwindling water supply. This also has a direct impact on relations with neighboring Arab countries who are suffering from a similar reality while vying for the shared water resources this challenge while resources continue to decrease due to drought and overuse.





Israel's Appropriation of Arab Water: An Obstacle to Peace



"Israel's designs on Lebanese water," MEI, 10 September 93 [No. 458] p. 18.)



50% or more of the water that Israel uses is unilaterally appropriated from water that should fairly go to its Arab neighbors. Even the New York Times used the word "theft" when quoting an "Arab" in connection with Israel's appropriation of regional water resources. ("Hurdle to Peace: Parting the Mideast's Waters" by Alan Cowell NYT, 10.10.93 p. 1)



Israeli work on diverting the water of the Jordan River was only temporarily suspended -- perhaps for as long as two years. By 1960, however, the diversion project -- which came to be known as the National Water Carrier -- was complete and in fact was the target of the PLO's first (and unsuccessful) attack in 1964.

Jordan and Syria strongly protested Israel's unilateral appropriation of their water because Israel's diversion made local agricultural activity impossible.

Before the Israeli diversion, the U.S. plan apportioned 33% of Jordan River water for Israel's use. As Stephen Green points out, the significance of this figure is that only 23% of the flow of the Jordan River originates in Israel. The Israelis, however, wanted more than 33%. Today, Israel takes virtually all of the Jordan River flow leaving only brackish, unusable water for the Syrians and Jordanians.







THE WEST BANK AND GAZA

Ever since the Israelis captured the West Bank and Gaza in the Six-Day War in 1967, they have strictly controlled the water resources in the territories largely because they have become so dependent on Palestinian water emanating from underground aquifers on the West Bank.

West Bank water not only makes up 30% of the water in Tel Aviv households but also is critical to preserving the pressure balance which keeps the salt water of the Mediterranean from invading the coastal aquifers.

Israel has permitted no new drilling of agricultural wells for water for the Palestinians in the territories and has permitted fewer than a dozen for domestic use. Moreover, the Israelis charge the Palestinians fees that are three times higher than they charge Israelis for water for domestic use (with even higher relative charges in Gaza).



As Sharif Elmusa points out: "in terms of relative GNP per capita, Palestinians pay a minimum of fifteen times more than Israeli consumers -- a phenomenal difference for water systems managed by the same company."

("Dividing the Common Palestinian-Israeli Waters: An International Water Law Approach" in Journal of Palestine Studies, Spring 1993, No. 87, p. 63. See also note 11, p. 74.)



Even in Gaza where the Arab population outnumbers the approximately 5,000 Jewish settlers by more than 170 to 1, the Israeli government appropriates 10-25% of Gaza water for Jews. (see Elmusa, pp. 61)



Amery's analysis suggests that Israel's interest in Lebanon is -- along with its political goals -- to maintain and/or establish control over as much of Lebanese water as possible.







The exclusively Israeli settlements are built on what the international community has recognized as Palestinian land. These gated settlement communities are composed of hundreds of small suburban houses, some with lawns, but all with vegetation and trees surrounding them.

In many settlements you will even see fountains and swimming pools. It is cheap to live in the settlements, as they are heavily subsidized by the Israeli government. Beneath the construction of this settlement are winding paved settler roads. Palestinians are expressly forbidden to use these roads and are forbidden from building within 150 meters of these roads as well.

There are an estimated 400,000 Israelis living in settlements on the West Bank. About two million Palestinians live in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip there are 1.2 million Palestinians and 5,000 Israeli settlers. These 5,000 settlers, guarded by Israeli military, take fully one-third of the 140-square mile land.

Palestinians view Israeli’s new security fence as further confiscation of their lands. Originally, the route of the fence was along the border between Israel and Palestine, also referred to as the Green Line or the 1967 border. Due to pressure from Israeli settlers, the route now curves deep into Palestinian territory, cutting off more than 85 percent of the West Bank’s agriculture from most of the outlying villages.





Israel allocates approximately 90% of this amount to itself, leaving the Palestinian population just over 10%. If water resources were divided into equal per capita shares, Palestinians would receive approximately 45%.

As a consequence of the Israeli restrictions the Palestinians (3.3 millions) who live in the Occupied Palestinian Territories receive 57-76 litters per capita per day for all uses. But the Israelis use 353 litters of water per day.



Palestinians suffer a severe water shortage due to the Occupation.



Since 1967, the Israeli government has been stealing up to 80% of the groundwater from the"Mountain Reservoir," a group of groundwater aquifers located underneath the mountains of the Occupied West Bank of Palestine, lincluding the Occupied Jerusalem. The Palestinian people are allowed no control of these extensive water resources.

Currently, Israel consumes more than 80 percent of Palestinian ground water and denies Palestinians their rightful utilization of the Jordan River.



Its swimming pools are in glaring contrast to the situation for Palestinians living a few miles down the road, struggling with seven times less water.



Half of those in the poor and densely populated community are children. Many can be seen at the water point, filling bottles and jerry cans. Children like Mahmoud Abdullah, 13, help as best they can with the severe shortage of safe water.

“We are filling water bottles because we have no drinkable water at home, and if water is available it is salty”



Destruction of Water Network

Destruction of Roof Tanks

Destruction of Cisterns

Destruction of Wells

Destruction of Reservoirs

Destruction of Treatment Units

Stopping of Water Supply

Pollution of Water Sources

Exposure of Sewage and Cesspits

Inaccessibility to Medical Care

Inability to Dispose of Solid Waste



Palestinians are punished in four ways over water by Israel:



1.) taking control over Palestinian water.



2.) siphoning away Palestinian water and denying the Palestinians their own resources.



3.) selling the water back to the Palestinians, which is Palestinian in the first place, at fifteen times the rate they sale it to the Israelis.



4.) The quality of water supplied to Palestinians is sub standard and a danger to health.