Water Theft In Palestine

[Violet_Crumble]

By Fred Pearce
21 June, 2004
The New Scientist

Israel has drawn up a secret plan for a giant desalination plant to supply drinking water to the Palestinian territory on the West Bank. It hopes the project will diminish pressure for it to grant any future Palestinian state greater access to the region's scarce supplies of fresh water.

Under an agreement signed a decade ago as part of the Oslo accord, four-fifths of the West Bank's water is allocated to Israel, though the aquifers that supply it are largely replenished by water falling onto Palestinian territory.

The new plans call for seawater to be desalinated at Caesaria on the Mediterranean coast, and then pumped into the West Bank, where a network of pipes will deliver it to large towns and many of the 250 villages that currently rely on local springs and small wells for their water.

Israel, which wants the US to fund the project, would guarantee safe passage of the water across its territory in return for an agreement that Israel can continue to take the lion's share of the waters of the West Bank. These mainly comprise underground reserves such as the western aquifer, the region's largest, cleanest and most reliable water source.

For Israelis, agreement on the future joint management of this aquifer is a prerequisite for granting Palestine statehood.

http://www.countercurrents.org/pa-pearce210604.htm

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Water seems to be the defining issue in this part of the world,

of all things. But it is paramount in this region and the people depend on it to survive. All parties need and depend on water. The Palestinian State should not be blackmailed into giving up land to obtain drinking water. This is not right.

[Gimel]

3. Giving up land?

Where is any mention of giving up land for water?

[Rhiannon12866]

9. I didn't say that there was any explicit mention of this,

but in this part of the Middle East, where oil is not a concern, water surely is. It is of paramount concern. It is in short supply and there is definite concern and squabbling over it. This is a desperate matter, as you must know.

[Violet_Crumble]

4. Yep, it's blackmail...

"For Israelis, agreement on the future joint management of this aquifer is a prerequisite for granting Palestine statehood."

That's pretty stinky as far as I'm concerned....

Violet...

[Gimel]

5. Joint management

...the future joint management of this aquifer

Agreeing on water resources is a fundamental issue which should be resolved before statehood. Nothing "stinky" about it. Putting this into the agreement is fair to both sides.

[Classical_Liberal]

6. It is just a way to force the Palestinians into a state of dependence on

Israel and to undermine their soveriegnty. Israel should build the desalienation plants for themselves, instead of using west bank water and selling desalienated overpriced water the Palestinians. Israeli can afford desalienation easily and their independence isn't undermined by it.

[Gimel]

7. The two are interdependent

a way to force the Palestinians into a state of dependence

Only by realizing that and working things out between the two people (nations) will there be peace.

[Classical_Liberal]

8. Palestinians are the only ones dependent

. Isreal just takes Palestinian water without paying, for anything, then they sell them water. It is fundamentally unfair. All take no give. There is no balance here at all.

[Rhiannon12866]

10. You are right, but since Palestinians are largely prevented

from owning much of anything, for a couple of generations, how can anything be stolen from them?

[Gimel]

11. Who prevents them?

they don't own cars and televisions?

Nothing is stolen from them. Water belongs to all the people. But we can't use it until it has been treated and pumped into our homes. Just like electricity and gas for cooking and heating.

[Classical_Liberal]

12. It's cheaper to treat ground water

than it is to desalienate water. If it belongs to everyone why are the Palestinians the only ones who have to pay for it? Even if they didn't I wouldn't want my water source in the hands of someone who doesn't mind cutting it off.

[Gimel]

13. The ground water

Depleting the ground water by too much drilling is a sure way to ruin that water supply. The Palestinians water has not been cut off. Even with massive suicide attacks on Israeli citizens, their water supply has not been diminished.

[Classical_Liberal]

14. That is not true. The water supply has diminished

Water has definately been deliberately cut off as a politcal tool.

This summer, like previous summers, Palestinian residents of the West Bank have been suffering from a severe water shortage. As a result, they are unable to meet certain basic needs, such as maintaining personal hygiene, house cleaning, and watering their animals, gardens, and crops, which provide a source of food and livelihood for many Palestinian households.


Unfair Division of Water Resources

The root of the water shortage in the West Bank lies in the completely unfair division of the water resources. Under international law, the local water resources shared by Israel and the Palestinians must be divided fairly according to need. In practice, Israel allows the Palestinians only twenty percent of the water from the Mountain Aquifer – the groundwater system that transects the border between Israel and the West Bank – and does not enable Palestinians access to the water from the Jordan River basin (the second shared water source), which includes the Sea of Galilee, the streams flowing into the Sea of Galilee, and the Yarmuh River.

This unfair division has created a chronic water shortage for the Palestinians. The magnitude of the shortage is clearly seen in the vast gap between Israeli and Palestinian per capita home, urban, and industrial water consumption. Whereas the average Palestinian on the West Bank consumes about sixty liters a day, the average Israeli consumes about 350.


Communities Lacking a Water Network

The water shortage is particularly felt in West Bank communities that are not connected to a water network. As of the summer of 2002, more than 200,000 Palestinians were living in more than 200 communities that do not have a water network. These Palestinians rely mostly on rainfall, which is collected on roofs of the houses and in nearby cisterns. This water source is generally sufficient for only a few months (November to May). During the summer, they collect water from nearby springs (where they exist), using plastic bottles and jerricans, and buy water at high prices from private water tankers. The water they obtain in these ways is poor quality, which affects their health Since the beginning of the current intifada, water supplied by the tankers has fallen sharply. The decline is a result of the various IDF restrictions on Palestinian m........

http://www.btselem.org/English/Special/020801_Water.asp

[Gimel]

15. That was two years ago

While I'm sure that the Palestinians suffered from lack of water more than most Israelis, we are also suffering water shortages, and disruption of service. In my community as well, we were without water for more than a day because of a problem in the water main. I also store up enough water for emergencies like that. I've learned that it is necessary here in Israel.

[Classical_Liberal]

17. Illegal wells

Illegal wells

The mother of one family in Beit Furik, Fuaz Hanani, told Politics Of Water that they were only able to wash every two weeks, such was the shortage of water.

"I feel angry that Israeli settlers in Itmar drink clean water while my dear family drink water from a well which sometimes has dirty or polluted water," Mrs Hanani said.

However, Jacob Kaidar insisted that, while he hoped co-operation between the two sides would be better in the future, Mrs Hanani should direct her anger towards her own people.

He said Palestinians were stealing water from Israeli pipes and drilling illegal wells.

"In Gaza we have some 2,000 illegal wells, in the West Bank the report is 250 or more," he said.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2982730.stm

[Rhiannon12866]

18. Water belongs to whomever is controlling its distribution

Water is very precious here and can be used as a bargaining chip or as retribution.

[Gimel]

2. A reprint

This is a dupe of the article on this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=70625

[Gimel]

16. What's so secret about it?

Israel has drawn up a secret plan

This same article was posted from another magazine with another title a month ago. Seems to be all over the place.