Thread: Israel accused of denying water to Palestinians

Amnesty International's report criticised Israel's refusals to grant permits for wells in Gaza and the West Bank



Israel is accused today of denying the West Bank and Gaza access to adequate water through a "total" and "discriminatory" control that enables its own people to consume four times as much as the Palestinians.



An Amnesty International report paints a picture of many Palestinian families struggling – and often failing – to secure enough water for drinking, cleaning, and agriculture while Israelis, including residents of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, have all they need for lush, irrigated farmland, swimming pools and gardens.



Amnesty also suggests that taxpayers in countries who donate aid to the Palestinians are facing unnecessarily high costs to meet severe water shortages because their governments are unwilling to challenge "the most unreasonable" restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinian access to the regionally scarce resource.



It claims the 450,000 settlers who have taken up residence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the Six-Day War in 1967 consume as much as or more than the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. It says the overall Palestinian per capita consumption of 70 litres per day compares with the WHO recommended level of 100 litres and Israeli consumption of 300.



The report adds that between 180,000 and 200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities – especially in the Israeli controlled "Area C" which comprises 60 per cent of the West Bank – have no access to running water. According to Amnesty, the Israeli military "often" prevents them from accessing rainwater – for example by destroying water-harvesting cisterns or even confiscating water tankers.



At the same time the report highlights the unequal distribution of water from the mountain aquifer which is the principal groundwater resource for both communities, most of which is located in the West Bank, and from which Israel draws 80 per cent. It also points out that using water for Israel's supplies from the River Jordan – as Jordan does, and Syria and Lebanon do further upstream – before the river reaches the West Bank, deprives Palestinians of any access to the river's water.



The report is critical of past mismanagement by the Palestinian Water Authority and says the international donors sometimes lack coordination in funding water-related projects in the occupied territories. But the bulk of the report blames Israeli restrictions and repeated refusals to grant permits for wells and other installations.



While the Oslo accords in the mid-Nineties agreed a highly unequal distribution, the report suggests the disparities have worsened since then. Instead of challenging restrictions, international donors – among which the principal governments are those of the US and Germany – choose to divert "significant funds" to short-term projects such as repairing war damage or funding tanker shipments at many times the cost of piped supplies.



In Gaza, the report says 90-95 per cent of the water from the coastal aquifer which has traditionally supplied it, is now unfit for human consumption. It adds that Israel's refusal to allow water to be exported from the West Bank to Gaza, now compounded by the embargo on materials for infrastructure development and repair, have brought Gaza's water and sewage system to "crisis point."

I think some things should be off limits, even during war, and denying water to people is one of them.



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...r-1809948.html

In Gaza, the report says 90-95 per cent of the water from the coastal aquifer which has traditionally supplied it, is now unfit for human consumption.

Did Gaza previously have so much water than they could afford to lose 90-95% of their supply without incurring massive numbers of dehydration deaths? I think I'm missing something in this report... Otherwise-healthy humans can survive for roughly one week without water. Deprive a population the size of Gaza's of 90-95% of their water, and their population should be in freefall.



And if they're surviving by drinking water that is unfit for human consumption, we should be hearing about epidemics of water-borne diseases like cholera.

[quote name='Gypsy' date='27 October 2009 - 10:25 AM' timestamp='1256653506' post='45648']

Agree. What does Israel hope to accomplish with this? Do they think they will drive them out?

[/quote]



I don't think so, they have no place to go. I'm wondering if the Geneva Conventions or the UN has any rule against this.

Apparently, the Amnesty International study was conducted without contacting the Israeli Water Authority for any sort of information, confirmation, or explanation.



Seems like an unusual oversight when you consider that the subject of the report was "Israeli Water Regulation."



Link.

[quote name='Gypsy' date='27 October 2009 - 03:21 PM' timestamp='1256671280' post='45955']

The site is overloaded. I'll try later.

[/quote]

Link works for me. If you continue to have trouble getting though, let me know and I'll copy/paste the text.

Israel is facing war crimes charges, Obama is covering for the. They have been denying water, or clean water for years now. They are bulldozing homes, and wiping out food sources, including damn near every olive tree the Palestinians own.



This is why I hate Zionism, they are neocon scum.