National Water Strategy for Palestine

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Load more

National Water Strategy for Palestine Toward Building a Palestinian State from Water Perspective PALESTINIAN WATER AUTHORITY DRAFT COPY Dec, 2012 National Water Policy and Strategy – Volume 2 – Full report + Annexes – version 10 22/10/2012 1 Table of content LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................................. 7 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... 8 1. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................. 9 1.1. NATIONAL WATER STRATEGY............................................................................................................9 1.2. PURPOSE STATEMENT ......................................................................................................................9 1.3. PREVIOUS REFERENCE....................................................................................................................10 PART 1: BASELINE ..............................................................................................................11 2. GENERAL.....................................................................................................................12 2.1. POPULATION ................................................................................................................................12 2.2. NATIONAL ECONOMY AND GDP ......................................................................................................12 2.3. HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT...........................................................................................................14 2.4. INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK ..........................................................................................................15 3. WATER RESOURCES IN PALESTINE ...............................................................................16 3.1. SURFACE WATER RESOURCES...........................................................................................................16 3.2. GROUNDWATER RESOURCES ...........................................................................................................17 3.3. NON-CONVENTIONAL RESOURCES....................................................................................................17 3.4. ABSTRACTION FROM WATER RESOURCES...........................................................................................19 3.5. WATER RESOURCES AT RISK ............................................................................................................19 3.5.1. GROUNDWATER DEPLETION........................................................................................................19 3.5.2. NITRATE POLLUTION OF GROUNDWATER RESOURCES ......................................................................22 4. WATER SERVICES LEVEL, COVERAGE AND QUALITY......................................................24 4.1. SERVICE LEVEL AND COVERAGE ........................................................................................................24 4.2. WATER MADE AVAILABLE PER PERSON ..............................................................................................24 4.3. INEQUALITIES AMONG REGIONS.......................................................................................................25 4.4. METERING...................................................................................................................................28 4.5. PRESSURE AND RELIABILITY OF THE SERVICE .......................................................................................29 4.6. UFW AND NRW ..........................................................................................................................29 4.7. COLLECTION RATES .......................................................................................................................29 5. WASTE WATER SERVICES ORGANIZATION, COVERAGE AND QUALITY ..........................30 5.1. HOUSEHOLD LEVEL OF SANITATION EQUIPMENT .................................................................................30 5.2. SEWERAGE...................................................................................................................................30 5.2.1. LOCALITIES WITH SEWERAGE .......................................................................................................30 5.2.2. POPULATION CONNECTED TO SEWERS...........................................................................................31 5.3. MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENT FOR SEWERS AND WWTPS .................................................................33 5.4. ON-SITE SANITATION .....................................................................................................................33 5.4.1. TYPE OF FREQUENTLY UTILIZED ON-SITE FACILITIES..........................................................................33 5.4.2. CONSTRAINTS AND IMPACTS .......................................................................................................34 5.4.3. SLUDGE REMOVAL AND TREATMENT.............................................................................................34 5.5. WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS..................................................................................................34 5.5.1. WW PRODUCTION AND COLLECTION BY SEWERS ............................................................................34 5.5.2. ACTUAL TREATMENT CAPACITY ....................................................................................................35 National Water Policy and Strategy – Volume 2 – Full report + Annexes – version 10 22/10/2012 2 5.5.3. CAPACITY AND OUTLOOK OF SCHEDULED WWTP...........................................................................37 PART 2. DEMAND FOR WATER AND SANITATION SERVICES ..............................................38 6. STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION .............................................................................39 6.1. THE LONG-TERM SCENARIO.............................................................................................................39 6.2. LONG-TERM STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................39 6.3. SHORT TERM IMPLEMENTATION PLAN...............................................................................................39 7. SYNTHESIS OF STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES.........................................................................41 7.1. AIMS OF THE STRATEGY..................................................................................................................41 7.2. SECTOR PERFORMANCE INDICATORS.................................................................................................41 7.3. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES FOR 2032....................................................................................................43 8. POPULATION GROWTH ...............................................................................................46 8.1. HYPOTHESIS.................................................................................................................................46 8.2. DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS..................................................................................................................46 9. DEMAND FOR DOMESTIC WATER................................................................................48 9.1. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES FOR PER CAPITA WATER ALLOCATION ................................................................48 9.2. PROJECTED DEMAND FOR DOMESTIC AND INDUSTRIAL WATER ..............................................................48 10. DEMAND FOR INDUSTRIAL WATER ..........................................................................50 10.1. BASELINE.................................................................................................................................50 10.2. PROJECTED DEMAND FOR INDUSTRY.............................................................................................50 11. DEMAND FOR IRRIGATION WATER ..........................................................................52 11.1. IRRIGABLE LAND........................................................................................................................52 11.2. WATER NEEDS PER DUNUM ........................................................................................................52 11.3. IRRIGATED LAND AND PROJECTED DEMAND FOR IRRIGATION.............................................................52 PART 3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER RESOURCES..........................................55 12. UFW AND PRODUCTION NEEDS FOR DOMESTIC AND INDUSTRIAL WATER ...............56 12.1. UFW REDUCTION HYPOTHESES ...................................................................................................56 12.2. CONTENT OF THE UFW-REDUCTION PROGRAM..............................................................................56 12.3. PRODUCTION NEEDS..................................................................................................................57 13. GROUNDWATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ..........................................................58 13.1. ALLOCATION OF RIGHT-TO-USE WATER TO PALESTINIANS.................................................................58 13.2. LONG TERM STRATEGY - STATE OF PALESTINE- = FINAL AGREEMENT WITH NEIGHBORS .........................58
Recommended publications
  • Qarawat Bani Hassan Town Profile

    Qarawat Bani Hassan Town Profile

    Qarawat Bani Hassan Town Profile Prepared by The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem Funded by Spanish Cooperation 2013 Palestinian Localities Study Salfit Governorate Acknowledgments ARIJ hereby expresses its deep gratitude to the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) for their funding of this project. ARIJ is grateful to the Palestinian officials in the ministries, municipalities, joint services councils, village committees and councils, and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) for their assistance and cooperation with the project team members during the data collection process. ARIJ also thanks all the staff who worked throughout the past couple of years towards the accomplishment of this work. 1 Palestinian Localities Study Salfit Governorate Background This report is part of a series of booklets, which contain compiled information about each city, town, and village in the Salfit Governorate. These booklets came as a result of a comprehensive study of all localities in Salfit Governorate, which aims at depicting the overall living conditions in the governorate and presenting developmental plans to assist in developing the livelihood of the population in the area. It was accomplished through the "Village Profiles and Needs Assessment;" the project funded by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID). The "Village Profiles and Needs Assessment" was designed to study, investigate, analyze and document the socio-economic conditions and the needed programs and activities to mitigate the impact of the current unsecure political, economic and social conditions in Salfit Governorate. The project's objectives are to survey, analyze, and document the available natural, human, socioeconomic and environmental resources, and the existing limitations and needs assessment for the development of the rural and marginalized areas in Salfit Governorate.
  • November 2014 Al-Malih Shaqed Kh

    November 2014 Al-Malih Shaqed Kh

    Salem Zabubah Ram-Onn Rummanah The West Bank Ta'nak Ga-Taybah Um al-Fahm Jalameh / Mqeibleh G Silat 'Arabunah Settlements and the Separation Barrier al-Harithiya al-Jalameh 'Anin a-Sa'aidah Bet She'an 'Arrana G 66 Deir Ghazala Faqqu'a Kh. Suruj 6 kh. Abu 'Anqar G Um a-Rihan al-Yamun ! Dahiyat Sabah Hinnanit al-Kheir Kh. 'Abdallah Dhaher Shahak I.Z Kfar Dan Mashru' Beit Qad Barghasha al-Yunis G November 2014 al-Malih Shaqed Kh. a-Sheikh al-'Araqah Barta'ah Sa'eed Tura / Dhaher al-Jamilat Um Qabub Turah al-Malih Beit Qad a-Sharqiyah Rehan al-Gharbiyah al-Hashimiyah Turah Arab al-Hamdun Kh. al-Muntar a-Sharqiyah Jenin a-Sharqiyah Nazlat a-Tarem Jalbun Kh. al-Muntar Kh. Mas'ud a-Sheikh Jenin R.C. A'ba al-Gharbiyah Um Dar Zeid Kafr Qud 'Wadi a-Dabi Deir Abu Da'if al-Khuljan Birqin Lebanon Dhaher G G Zabdah לבנון al-'Abed Zabdah/ QeiqisU Ya'bad G Akkabah Barta'ah/ Arab a-Suweitat The Rihan Kufeirit רמת Golan n 60 הגולן Heights Hadera Qaffin Kh. Sab'ein Um a-Tut n Imreihah Ya'bad/ a-Shuhada a a G e Mevo Dotan (Ganzour) n Maoz Zvi ! Jalqamus a Baka al-Gharbiyah r Hermesh Bir al-Basha al-Mutilla r e Mevo Dotan al-Mughayir e t GNazlat 'Isa Tannin i a-Nazlah G d Baqah al-Hafira e The a-Sharqiya Baka al-Gharbiyah/ a-Sharqiyah M n a-Nazlah Araba Nazlat ‘Isa Nazlat Qabatiya הגדה Westהמערבית e al-Wusta Kh.
  • Water Justice: Water As a Human Right in Israel

    Water Justice: Water As a Human Right in Israel

    NO.15 ~ MARCH 2005 ~ ENGLISH VERSION Israel Water Justice: Water as a Human Right in Israel By Tamar Keinan, Friends of the Earth Middle East, Israel Editor: Gidon Bromberg, Friends of the Earth Middle East Series’ coordinator: Simone Klawitter, policy advisor Translated from Hebrew by: Ilana Goldberg Global Issue Papers, No. 15 Water Justice: Water as a Human Right in Israel: Published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, office Tel Aviv 24, Nahalat Binyamin 65162 Tel Aviv, Israel Phone: 00972-3-5167734/5 Fax: 00972-3-5167689 © Heinrich Böll Foundation 2005 All rights reserved in cooperation with EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) 85 Nehalat Benyamin St., Tel Aviv 66102, Israel The following paper does not necessarily represent the views of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Note of Gratitude I would like to acknowledge the assistance and comments given by Zach Tagar and Sharon Karni staff members of the FoEME Tel-Aviv office, as well as that of a team of NGO colleagues including Shimon Tzuk, Israel Union for Environmental Defence, Nir Papay, Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and Orit, Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, Dr. David Brooks, Friends of the Earth Canada. I would like to acknowledge special gratitude to Simone Klawitter and Julia Scherf, from the Heinrich Böll Foundation for their helpful comments, support and taking the initiative of launching this important report series. - 2 - Foreword This publication is part of a Heinrich Böll Foundation series on Water as a Human Right in the Middle East. Prior to this study on Israel, the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Arab Middle East Office in Ramallah commissioned studies on Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories respectively.
  • Kifl Haris Town Profile

    Kifl Haris Town Profile

    Kifl Haris Town Profile Prepared by The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem Funded by Spanish Cooperation 2013 Palestinian Localities Study Salfit Governorate Acknowledgments ARIJ hereby expresses its deep gratitude to the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) for their funding of this project. ARIJ is grateful to the Palestinian officials in the ministries, municipalities, joint services councils, village committees and councils, and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) for their assistance and cooperation with the project team members during the data collection process. ARIJ also thanks all the staff who worked throughout the past couple of years towards the accomplishment of this work. 1 Palestinian Localities Study Salfit Governorate Background This report is part of a series of booklets, which contain compiled information about each city, town, and village in the Salfit Governorate. These booklets came as a result of a comprehensive study of all localities in Salfit Governorate, which aims at depicting the overall living conditions in the governorate and presenting developmental plans to assist in developing the livelihood of the population in the area. It was accomplished through the "Village Profiles and Needs Assessment;" the project funded by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID). The "Village Profiles and Needs Assessment" was designed to study, investigate, analyze and document the socio-economic conditions and the needed programs and activities to mitigate the impact of the current unsecure political, economic and social conditions in Salfit Governorate. The project's objectives are to survey, analyze, and document the available natural, human, socioeconomic and environmental resources, and the existing limitations and needs assessment for the development of the rural and marginalized areas in Salfit Governorate.
  • West Bank Barrier Route Projections July 2009

    West Bank Barrier Route Projections July 2009

    United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs LEBANON SYRIA West Bank Barrier Route Projections July 2009 West Bank Gaza Strip JORDAN Barta'a ISRAEL ¥ EGYPT Area Affected r The Barrier’s total length is 709 km, more than e v i twice the length of the 1949 Armistice Line R n (Green Line) between the West Bank and Israel. W e s t B a n k a d r o The total area located between the Barrier J and the Green Line is 9.5 % of the West Bank, Qalqilya including East Jerusalem and No Man's Land. Qedumim Finger When completed, approximately 15% of the Barrier will be constructed on the Green Line or in Israel with 85 % inside the West Bank. Biddya Area Populations Affected Ari’el Finger If the Barrier is completed based on the current route: Az Zawiya Approximately 35,000 Palestinians holding Enclave West Bank ID cards in 34 communities will be located between the Barrier and the Green Line. The majority of Palestinians with East Kafr Aqab Jerusalem ID cards will reside between the Barrier and the Green Line. However, Bir Nabala Enclave Biddu Palestinian communities inside the current Area Shu'fat Camp municipal boundary, Kafr Aqab and Shu'fat No Man's Land Camp, are separated from East Jerusalem by the Barrier. Ma’ale Green Line Adumim Settlement Jerusalem Bloc Approximately 125,000 Palestinians will be surrounded by the Barrier on three sides. These comprise 28 communities; the Biddya and Biddu areas, and the city of Qalqilya. ISRAEL Approximately 26,000 Palestinians in 8 Gush a communities in the Az Zawiya and Bir Nabala Etzion e Enclaves will be surrounded on four sides Settlement S Bloc by the Barrier, with a tunnel or road d connection to the rest of the West Bank.
  • Far'a Refugee Camp

    Far'a Refugee Camp

    west bank west unrwa profile: far’a camp tubas governorate Overview UNRWA in Far’a Camp Far’a camp is located in a rural area General Information UNRWA in Far’a Camp 17 km northeast of Nablus. The camp • Established: 1950 Main UNRWA installations: is geographically isolated, thus many • Size: 0.26 sq km • Three schools services can only be accessed in Jenin • Population before 1967 (OCHA): • One health centre and Nablus. Though Far’a camp’s 7,060 UNRWA employees working in isolation is in many ways detrimental • Estimated population (PCBS): 7,100 Far’a camp: 110 to the residents’ livelihoods, the lack • Registered persons (UNRWA): 8,500 • Education: 72 of nearby city centres makes the land • Estimated density: 32,692 per sq km • Health: 19 surrounding the camp affordable in • Places of origin: Areas north-east of • Relief and social services: 3 price, unlike most other camps located Haifa • Sanitation services:11 next to urban centres. This gives some • Administration: 5 Far’a camp refugees the opportunity to move outside the camp. As such, Education Far’a camp has fewer issues than other camps in relation to overcrowding. There are three schools in Far’a camp: two UNRWA girls’ schools that serve over 750 students and one UNRWA boys’ school that serves over 800 students. Facilities in the schools include libraries and computer and science laboratories. UNRWA psychosocial counsellors Unemployment is a major concern are present in the schools and remedial classes in Arabic and mathematics are offered on for the residents of Far’a camp. While Saturdays.
  • Impacts of Climate Change on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank

    Impacts of Climate Change on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank

    COMPOUNDING VULNERABILITY: IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON PALESTINIANS IN GAZA AND THE WEST BANK MICHAEL MASON, MARK ZEITOUN, AND ZIAD MIMI Coping with (and adapting to) climatological hazards is commonly understood in intergovernmental and aid agency fora as a purely tech- nical matter. This article examines the UN Development Programme’s stakeholder consultations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in order to challenge the donor-driven technical-managerial framing of Palestinian climate vulnerability by showing how Israeli occupa- tion practices exacerbate environmental stresses. While emphasizing the importance of social, economic, and political contexts in shap- ing populations’ responses to climate change in general, the authors demonstrate the multiple ways in which the occupation speci!cally compounds hazards reveals it as constitutive of Palestinian climate vulnerability. AT THE DECEMBER 2009 !fteenth conference of the parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, 130 heads of state and government af!rmed their commit- ments to address climate change, including Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli President Shimon Peres. Observ- ers hoping that shared climate risks would be an area for Palestinian- Israeli cooperation were disappointed. Both leaders acknowledged that signi!cant climate change was forecasted by the end of this century for the Eastern Mediterranean region: its impacts, Fayyad noted, included decreased precipitation, signi!cant warming, more frequent extreme weather events, and a rise in sea level.1 There was also a shared recogni- tion that the key hazards posed by these changes—greater water scarcity, falling agricultural productivity, an increased probability of "ash "oods, and saline intrusion into groundwater—will be accentuated by a growing population.
  • Occupied Palestinian Territory (Including East Jerusalem)

    Occupied Palestinian Territory (Including East Jerusalem)

    Reporting period: 29 March - 4 April 2016 Weekly Highlights For the first week in almost six months there have been no Palestinian nor Israeli fatalities recorded. 88 Palestinians, including 18 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the oPt. The majority of injuries (76 per cent) were recorded during demonstrations marking ‘Land Day’ on 30 March, including six injured next to the perimeter fence in the Gaza Strip, followed by search and arrest operations. The latter included raids in Azzun ‘Atma (Qalqiliya) and Ya’bad (Jenin) involving property damage and the confiscation of two vehicles, and a forced entry into a school in Ras Al Amud in East Jerusalem. On 30 occasions, Israeli forces opened fire in the Access Restricted Area (ARA) at land and sea in Gaza, injuring two Palestinians as far as 350 meters from the fence. Additionally, Israeli naval forces shelled a fishing boat west of Rafah city, destroying it completely. Israeli forces continued to ban the passage of Palestinian males between 15 and 25 years old through two checkpoints controlling access to the H2 area of Hebron city. This comes in addition to other severe restrictions on Palestinian access to this area in place since October 2015. During the reporting period, Israeli forces removed the restrictions imposed last week on Beit Fajjar village (Bethlehem), which prevented most residents from exiting and entering the village. This came following a Palestinian attack on Israeli soldiers near Salfit, during which the suspected perpetrators were killed. Israeli forces also opened the western entrance to Hebron city, which connects to road 35 and to the commercial checkpoint of Tarqumiya.
  • Annual Report #4

    Annual Report #4

    Fellow engineers Annual Report #4 Program Name: Local Government & Infrastructure (LGI) Program Country: West Bank & Gaza Donor: USAID Award Number: 294-A-00-10-00211-00 Reporting Period: October 1, 2013 - September 30, 2014 Submitted To: Tony Rantissi / AOR / USAID West Bank & Gaza Submitted By: Lana Abu Hijleh / Country Director/ Program Director / LGI 1 Program Information Name of Project1 Local Government & Infrastructure (LGI) Program Country and regions West Bank & Gaza Donor USAID Award number/symbol 294-A-00-10-00211-00 Start and end date of project September 30, 2010 – September 30, 2015 Total estimated federal funding $100,000,000 Contact in Country Lana Abu Hijleh, Country Director/ Program Director VIP 3 Building, Al-Balou’, Al-Bireh +972 (0)2 241-3616 [email protected] Contact in U.S. Barbara Habib, Program Manager 8601 Georgia Avenue, Suite 800, Silver Spring, MD USA +1 301 587-4700 [email protected] 2 Table of Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations …………………………………….………… 4 Program Description………………………………………………………… 5 Executive Summary…………………………………………………..…...... 7 Emergency Humanitarian Aid to Gaza……………………………………. 17 Implementation Activities by Program Objective & Expected Results 19 Objective 1 …………………………………………………………………… 24 Objective 2 ……………………................................................................ 42 Mainstreaming Green Elements in LGI Infrastructure Projects…………. 46 Objective 3…………………………………………………........................... 56 Impact & Sustainability for Infrastructure and Governance ……............
  • A Pre-Feasibility Study on Water Conveyance Routes to the Dead

    A Pre-Feasibility Study on Water Conveyance Routes to the Dead

    A PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDY ON WATER CONVEYANCE ROUTES TO THE DEAD SEA Published by Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Kibbutz Ketura, D.N Hevel Eilot 88840, ISRAEL. Copyright by Willner Bros. Ltd. 2013. All rights reserved. Funded by: Willner Bros Ltd. Publisher: Arava Institute for Environmental Studies Research Team: Samuel E. Willner, Dr. Clive Lipchin, Shira Kronich, Tal Amiel, Nathan Hartshorne and Shae Selix www.arava.org TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 HISTORICAL REVIEW 5 2.1 THE EVOLUTION OF THE MED-DEAD SEA CONVEYANCE PROJECT ................................................................... 7 2.2 THE HISTORY OF THE CONVEYANCE SINCE ISRAELI INDEPENDENCE .................................................................. 9 2.3 UNITED NATIONS INTERVENTION ......................................................................................................... 12 2.4 MULTILATERAL COOPERATION ............................................................................................................ 12 3 MED-DEAD PROJECT BENEFITS 14 3.1 WATER MANAGEMENT IN ISRAEL, JORDAN AND THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY ............................................... 14 3.2 POWER GENERATION IN ISRAEL ........................................................................................................... 18 3.3 ENERGY SECTOR IN THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY .................................................................................... 20 3.4 POWER GENERATION IN JORDAN ........................................................................................................
  • EU Funding for Mekorot: Aiding and Abetting the Israeli Settlement Project

    EU Funding for Mekorot: Aiding and Abetting the Israeli Settlement Project

    Briefing produced by: PENGON/FOEI Palestine member Stop the Wall Campaign EU Funding for Mekorot: Aiding and abetting the Israeli settlement project Summary Mekorot is the Israeli state water company. It has monopoly control over all water sources in the occupied Palestinian territory and diverts most of the water to illegal Israeli settlements, leaving Palestinians with chronic water shortages. UN reports have criticised Mekorot’s role in Israeli violations of international law, in particular its deep and clear participation in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian land. Mekorot since the 1950s is running Israel’s national water carrier and is responsible over a single integrated water management system that includes as core areas of water supply the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. This implies that any of Mekorot’s operations affects the entire system and makes ‘differentiation’ as mandated by EU policies and international law impossible. Despite this, Mekorot continues to participate in EU funding projects. This completely ignores and runs counter to the repeated calls of the European Parliament, MEPs and civil society for the EU Commission to ensure that “no settlement-related activity can benefit from any EU cooperation ​ programme such as Horizon 2020”1. ​ The technology developed and made available with EU funding risks being applied by Mekorot to maintain the large part of its operations that are illegal activities in Israel’s settlement enterprise. This shows the failure of the application of the 2013 guidelines in effectively achieving Israeli accountability for its violations of international law and human rights and with this the failure of the EU to comply with its obligations under international law.
  • Battir Village Profile

    Battir Village Profile

    Battir Village Profile Prepared by The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem Funded by Spanish Cooperation Azahar Program 2010 Palestinian Localities Study Bethlehem Governorate Acknowledgments ARIJ hereby expresses its deep gratitude to the Spanish agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) for their funding of this project through the Azahar Program. ARIJ is grateful to the Palestinian officials in the ministries, municipalities, joint services councils, village committees and councils, and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) for their assistance and cooperation with the project team members during the data collection process. ARIJ also thanks all the staff who worked throughout the past couple of years towards the accomplishment of this work. 1 Palestinian Localities Study Bethlehem Governorate Background This booklet is part of a series of booklets, which contain compiled information about each city, town, and village in Bethlehem Governorate. These booklets came as a result of a comprehensive study of all localities in Bethlehem Governorate, which aims at depicting the overall living conditions in the governorate and presenting developmental plans to assist in developing the livelihood of the population in the area. It was accomplished through the "Village Profiles and Azahar Needs Assessment;" the project funded by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) and the Azahar Program. The "Village Profiles and Azahar Needs Assessment" was designed to study, investigate, analyze and document the socio-economic conditions and the needed programs and activities to mitigate the impact of the current unsecure political, economic and social conditions in Bethlehem Governorate with particular focus on the Azahar program objectives and activities concerning water, environment, and agriculture.