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Home , Effi Eitam, Mekorot, Oslo II Accord, Palestine, Palestinians, West Bank

3 Jad Isaac and Mohammad Ghanyem,Mohammad “Environmental and Isaac Jad 3 B’Tselem, “Thirsty for a Solution,” 2 LAW, “An Overview of the consequences 1 of Israeli uses • of amount disproportionate a controls Israel • system” water [national] the in source long-term important “most region, Tel the Aviv,and ” and the for water drinking of reservoir “principal the the is that WestBank said Controller State Israeli the 1993, In . and by use water of patterns current of sustainability the of regardless – levels consumption hinges on finding more water to maintain present use. In a water-scarce region, Israeli water policy portion ofPalestinianwaterresourcesforitsown (oPt), while appropriating an ever greater Palestinian occupied the in living and communities Israeli illegal Israel, between water of allocation unequal an maintains policy water discriminatory Israel’swater. drinking adequate and accessible, safe, to right human Palestinians’ violates and development sustainable for possibility any undermines resources water Palestinian of control Israel’s Furthermore, conflict. Israel- major impediment to a just resolution of the T • After • In • Degradation andthe Israeli-PalestinianConflict,” ARIJ 2001. 2000. the in environment the on Occupation Gaza,”Westand Bank percent of Israel’s water consumption. water Israel’s of percent the availablein 25 forWest accounting – Bank aquifer.Western(Mountain) the from resources water underground of River basin controls effectively It Palestine. with shares it systems water two the negated all previous and existing settlements of by a series of military orders that Palestinian occupied newly the in resources River.Jordan the from water any using from prohibited respectively,year per are mcm Palestinians are allowedtouse160mcmperyearand320 JordanRiver to Israel. While SyriaandJordan ,the of waters the percentof 75 diverts canals extending from the Sea of to the pipelines, pumping stations, reservoirs and This enormous water project, a network of National the WaterCar

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r i g h t s and more than 80 percent 100 percent of the of percent 100 1 rier,1953. in begun 2001. THE RIGHT TO WATER IN PALESTINE: A BACKGROUND 2 3 In • In • In • PASSIA, 6 LAW, “An Overview of the consequences of 5 Israeli Occupation PASSIA Special Bulletin, “Water: The Blue of the Middle4 the 'Info Paper no.5, July 1996, Centre for Policy Analysis onPalestine/TheJerusalem Fund, Washington D.C. Palestinian Courtesy Academic Societyfor theStudyofInternational Affairs (PASSIA). Adapted from: 'Water and War in water scar water widespread in resulting 10%, by wells their from pump could Palestinians water of amount wells. Palestinian older up drying effectively – continued use Israeli for wells deeper being destroyed,diggingandpumpingfor were wells Palestinian existing many While water.Palestinian of control ,took wells. new 23 only for granted commander. Since1967, permitshave been without permission from the Israeli military Palestinians by wells new of construction water disputes,setpumpingquotasandforbade of water to the oPt. of watertotheoPt. While the PWA has no maintained control of the total flow and volume up,(PWA)set Authority was Israel but have never beenreached). A Palestinian Water present (the “final status negotiations” of Oslo the until 1995 from resources water Palestinian Israel to continue illegal appropriation of “final statusnegotiations”–adeviceusedby water sourceswasdesignatedasanissuefor on the environment in the in environment W the on JulyEast,” STRIP GAZA 1995 1986 1982

Mediterranean Sea 1967) Occupied by Israel(June Palestinian Territory Line, 1967 -Israel Line, 1949 Armistice Demarcation Carrier Israeli National Water Groundwater divide Groundwater flow Gaza LEGEND “Fact Sheet – Sheet “Fact WaterEnvironment,”and 2001. , under the Oslo II Accord, divisionof , Israel reduced the quotas for the for quotas the reduced Israel , , the Israeli national water authority,water national ,Israeli the 2002. city. el viv i Av l Te Beersheba 6

ISRAEL Co ast al A qu ifer ooklyn, NY 11201 | 718-237-9145 | [email protected] | www.cesr.org | [email protected] | 718-237-9145 | 11201 ooklyn, NY est Bank and Gaza,”2000.and Bank est Haifa Aquifer Western ulkar m re a k l Tu

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JORDAN Since • recommended by the Organisation. byWorld Health recommended as litres 100 of standard daily minimum the meet evennot does day.use each water Palestinian water of litres 600 nearly use Settlers resources. region’sthe water of greateramount total far a use proportionately,Israelis and absolutely Both Palestinian Environmental NGO Network 7 Figures calculated from PASSIA Special Bulletin, “Water: 8 The

100% Litres 20% 40% 60% 80% by Israelis or settlers. consumption or extraction water in reduction any require nor sources water existing II agreement does not call for redistribution of blamed for water scar Israel, thePWA, ratherthantheOccupation, is by available made supply limited the allocates just and resources water manage to ability WestGaza. and Bank the in sources ofwater confiscation and ture infrastruc- water of destruction the intensified Intifada in September, the Israeli army has Environment in the and Gaza,”the Environmentinand 2002. West Bank Solution,”a for East,”Blue GoldoftheMiddle July 2 Campaign, Report #1” November 2002. 100 200 300 400 500 600 Percentage populationvs. waterconsumption 0 COMPARINGWATER USE Daily perCapita H20Consumption Total: approx. 9.4million 2000 Population 31.9% 63.8% 4.3% , after the onset of the Second 2000; and UNEP “Desk Study on the on Study 2000;UNEP “Desk and 7 city. Moreover, the Oslo Total =2280MCM/Year Water Consumption AT SHEET FACT 10.8% 85.9% 002;B’ 3.3% 1 1 (100 l/person/day) WHO standard “Apar tselem, “Thirsty Palestinians Israelis Settlers (Gaza) theid Wall Settlers Palestinians Israelis 8 • Limited access to trucked water. Israel’s VIOLATIONS OF PALESTINIANS’ policy of ‘closure’ severely limits access to POLLUTION OF PALESTINIAN 21 RIGHT TO WATER water carriers in a context where more than a WATER SOURCES BY ISRAEL third of all Palestinians rely on buying water While Israelis and settlers get continuous water from private or municipal tankers for their • Israeli settlements in the West Bank and 14 supply from Mekorot all year-round at subsidized water needs. Gaza are mostly located on hilltops and dump prices, Palestinians face these situations: manure, untreated sewage and wastewater into • Increased price of water. Water tankers the valleys – polluting Palestinian water sources • Irregular across the West delayed at checkpoints raise their prices by and agricultural land. According to 1997 f igures Bank, particularly in the water-scarce summer almost 80% because of the increased transpor- from the West Bank, settlers were 6 times more months. tation time due to closure.15 With 70-90% of polluting that Palestinians (300,000 settlers the workforce unemployed, Palestinians spend produced 30 mcm of wastewater a year, while • Depleted/contaminated/salinated water in as much as 39% of their household expenditure 16 in the same period, 1,870,000 Palestinians Gaza because of over-extraction of the Coastal on purchasing water. produced 31 mcm of wastewater). Aquifer – due in part to the fact that Palestinians are not allowed to develop or • Highly polluting Israeli industries are being repair water infrastructure.9 relocated to the West Bank (again, on hilltops) to avoid Israeli environmental regulations. At • Water distribution network losses of 30 – least 200 industries in 7 industrial zones in the 50% because of deteriorating networks and West Bank send untreated industrial effluents leaky pipes in dire need of repair.10 and wastewater into Palestinian streams and agricultural land. • No piped water at all for 215,000 Palestin- ians in 150 West Bank villages (26% of West • In February 2001, Israel discharged 3.5 Bank households).11 million cubic meters of untreated wastewater mixed with rainwater into northern • Many Palestinians must buy water – either towns. from Mekorot, or from private suppliers selling A section of the ‘Separation’ Wall that will come between expensive and unregulated trucked water. Even many Palestinians and their water and land. WHAT YOU CAN DO within the oPt, Mekorot’s prices are different (Photo courtesy John Reese © 2002) for Palestinians and Israeli settlers.12 • Ban on drilling wells. In October 2002, The Palestinian Hydrology Group (PHG) has Israeli infrastructure minister banned launched the Palestine Water for Life Campaign to Palestinians from drilling for water and placed a promote worldwide awareness of the water and freeze on the issue of future permits for sanitation situation in Palestine, as well as to wells.17 develop coordinated, comprehensive responses to the water crisis among donor, development, • Separation from water sources. In June of relief, human rights, and other NGOs. Please visit 2002, the Israeli government authorized a plan the campaign website at www.phg.org/campaign to build a ‘security wall’ - more accurately for more information about how you can support referred to as a ‘Separation Wall’ or ‘ their efforts. Wall’ - with electric fences, trenches and security patrols along the entire 220 mile The Palestinian Environmental NGO length of the West Bank. However, the Wall is Network (PENGON) has initiated the Apartheid not being built along the ‘’ (the de Wall Campaign to raise awareness of and Water tanker trucks such as these are often prevented at organize opposition to the “Separation Wall” Israeli checkpoints from collecting and delivering vital facto pre-1967 between Israel and the West Bank) - but rather inside the West Bank. which is threatening Palestinians’ access to and to Palestinian communities. (Photo courtesy John control over their own water resources. Learn Reese © 2002) The Wall separates thousands of Palestinians from their land and water sources. In the first more about the Campaign and how to support PENGON at www.pengon.org. SINCE THE : phase of the wall, several agriculture- IN THE NAME OF “SECURITY” dependent villages in the northern West Bank Educate your community! Organize teach-ins will lose access to 30 groundwater wells.18 about water issues in Palestine with experienced speakers at schools, congregations, and • Increase in water-borne diseases: Recent • Destruction of water infrastructure. The community centers. Israeli army have bulldozed pipelines and surveys have found infection rates from water- destroyed at least 15 wells in the West Bank related diseases as high as 64% in certain Contact the media! Call radio programs, write and Gaza since September 2000 – eliminating communities in the West Bank.19 A recent study letters and opinion pieces, and meet with the largest water source for many Palestinian shows that over a quarter of rural households reporters and editors to ensure that they cover villages and towns. Between March and of in the West Bank has a member suffering from the assault on Palestinian water resources. 2002 alone, the , UNDP and USAID diarrhoea; over half of these households had estimate that damage to West Bank water not had adequate bathing water for over two Visit our website at http://www.cesr.org/ supply and sewerage infrastructure by the weeks.20 PROGRAMS/waterpalestine.htm to learn more Israeli military reached US$7 million.13 about the water crisis in Palestine.

9 Jad Isaac and Mohammad Ghanyem, “Environmental 2002,” and UNEP, “Desk Study on the Environment,” 2002. 18 PENGON, “Apartheid Wall Campaign, Report #1,” 2002. Degradation and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” ARIJ 2001. 14 Palestine Hydrology Group, “WaSH Report #6: December 19 Disease rate for (Ramallah). Palestinian Hydrology 10 UNEP, “Desk Study on the Environment in the Occupied 2002.” Group, “WaSH Report #7: March 2003.” , 2002. 15 Ibid. 20 Briefing Paper 28: Forgotten Villages – Struggling to 11 PASSIA, “Fact Sheet – Water and Environment,” 2001. 16 Oxfam Briefing Paper 28: Forgotten Villages – Struggling to Survive under Closure in the West Bank, September 2002. 12 Jad Isaac and Mohammad Ghanyem, “Environmental Survive under Closure in the West Bank, September 2002 21 Jad Isaac and Mohammad Ghanyem, “Environmental Degradation and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” ARIJ, 2001 17 Jessica McCallin, “Israel bans new West Bank wells.” degradation and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” ARIJ, 2001. 13 Palestine Hydrology Group, “WaSH Report #6: December Sunday Herald October 28, 2002. Center for Economic and Social Rights | 162 Montague Street | Brooklyn, NY 11201 | 718-237-9145 | [email protected] | www.cesr.org