Israel is denying Palestinians fair share to water while giving Jewish settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories unlimited supplies, Amnesty International said in a report released on Tuesday, October 27.
“Water is a basic need and a right, but for many Palestinians obtaining even poor-quality subsistence-level quantities of water has become a luxury that they can barely afford,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s researcher.
“Israel allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, which lie mostly in the occupied West Bank, while the unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies.”
Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water (Amnesty PDF Document)
The London-based group said many Palestinian villages are starving due to the Israeli policies.
“Some 180,000-200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water and the Israeli army often prevents them from even collecting rainwater.
“Farmers are unable to cultivate the land, or even to grow small amounts of food for their personal consumption or for animal fodder, and have thus been forced to reduce the size of their herds.”
Amnesty notes that the situation is completely different with Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.
“In contrast, Israeli settlers, who live in the West Bank in violation of international law, have intensive-irrigation farms, lush gardens and swimming pools.”
It asserted that Israel’s daily water consumption per capita was four times higher than that in the Palestinian territories.
“While Palestinian daily water consumption barely reaches 70 liters a day per person, Israeli daily consumption is more than 300 liters per day, four times as much.
“In some rural communities Palestinians survive on barely 20 liters per day, the minimum amount recommended for domestic use in emergency situations.”
Afflicted Gaza
The human rights group said the situation in the fenced-off Gaza Strip is even more complicated.
“In Gaza the Israeli blockade has made an already dire situation worse,” said Rovera, the Amnesty researcher.
The majority of Palestinians in Gaza Strip are forced into using contaminated water to meet their basic needs.
“In the Gaza Strip, 90 to 95 percent of the water from its only water resource, the Coastal Aquifer, is contaminated and unfit for human consumption.
“Yet, Israel does not allow the transfer of water from the Mountain Aquifer in the West Bank to Gaza.”
Amnesty pointed out that the Israeli policies had prevented Palestinians from developing an effective water infrastructure in Gaza.
“Stringent restrictions imposed in recent years by Israel on the entry into Gaza of material and equipment necessary for the development and repair of infrastructure have caused further deterioration of the water and sanitation situation in Gaza, which has reached crisis point.”
To cope with water shortages and lack of network supplies, the report notes, many Palestinians have to purchase water, of often dubious quality, from mobile water tankers at a much higher price.
“Others resort to water-saving measures which are detrimental to their and their families’ health and which hinder socio-economic development.”
Amnesty urged Israel to end the sufferings of the Palestinian people and to stop its inhuman policies against them.
“Israel must end its discriminatory policies, immediately lift all the restrictions it imposes on Palestinians’ access to water, and take responsibility for addressing the problems it created by allowing Palestinians a fair share of the shared water resources.”
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