by Marta Fortunato
"Water in Palestine: not a scarcity but a distribution problem". This was the title of the discussion held by the Emergency, Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (EWASH) group at the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour on Tuesday, September 18.
The focus of the presentation was on Israel's control of Palestinian water resources and the impact of these discriminatory policies on the daily life of Palestinians. Israel retains direct control over all water sources in the West Bank and significant indirect control over Gaza´s water resources.
The Israeli authorities extract up to 86% of the potential yield of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, which lies in most part under the West Bank and which is divided into three groundwater basins: the Western Aquifer, the Eastern Aquifer and the North-eastern Aquifer.
In 1967 Israel issued several military orders aimed at controlling the water resources of the West Bank and preventing Palestinian from digging new wells and from building water infrastructures without Israeli permits. These policies have resulted in a de-development of the Palestinian water sector.
Water played a major role in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and some agreements were reached regarding water as a transboundary resource. However, the Interim Agreement signed in 1995 failed to define Palestinian water rights, instead leaving them to be negotiated in the permanent status talks along with other fundamental issues such as Jerusalem, the final borders, the refugees' right of return and the settlements. The Interim Agreement was only meant to last for a five year period, but the failure to reach a final agreement has perpetuated the inequitable distribution of the groundwater resources between Israelis and Palestinians. As outlined in the Oslo Accords, Israel retained control over 80% of the potential yield of the Mountain Aquifer, leaving Palestinians with just 20%. Nowadays, the situation has worsened and the amount of water abstracted by Palestinians in the West Bank dropped from 138 million of cubic metres in 1993 to 113 in 2007. As a result, the Palestinian population doesn´t have access to a large enough quantity of water and Palestinians are forced to buy 52% of their water supplies from Mekorot, the Israeli National Water Carrier.
These policies and practices have led to a huge disparity in water consumption between Israelis and Palestinians: the average daily per capita water consumption rate for Palestinians is between 50 and 70 litres, compared to around 300 litres in Israel. The gap is even larger in some areas of the West Bank, such as the Jordan Valley or the south Hebron hills. In the Tubas governorate, more than 48,000 Palestinians live with less than 30 litres per person per day, while Israeli settlers from the nearby settlement of Ro'i consume more than 400 litres per capita per day (including only domestic consumption).
In the Gaza Strip, the water extracted from the Coastal Aquifer which underlies the Strip has become saline due to over-abstraction and polluted from sewage ground infiltration. Up to 95% of Gaza´s water resources are now unsuitable for human consumption and Palestinians living in the Strip are dependent on desalinated brackish water for drinking. Moreover, Israel retains indirect control over Gaza´s water by preventing the entry of essential materials necessary for construction and rehabilitation of water and sanitation infrastructures and by restricting the amount of fuel and electricity necessary to operate water and waste-water services. Moreover, during Cast Lead Operation many plants and water utilities were destroyed and, as stated in the Goldstone report, “there was a deliberate and systematic policy on the part of the Israeli armed forces to target... water installations.”
As a result, 90 million of litres of untreated or partially treated water are released daily into the Mediterranean Sea, provoking water-borne illnesses and polluting the environment.
The right to access water is a fundamental human right that has been addressed in several international and regional treaties and conventions. Israel, as an Occupying power of the OPT, has specific obligations under the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) as stated in the Hague Regulations of 1907 and in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. The Hague Regulations forbid an occupying power from utilizing the resources of the occupied territory for the benefit of its civilian population. The rules of the Geneva Convention oblige Israel to take responsibility for the welfare of the Palestinian population under its control and to ensure the civilians are provided with or allowed to secure their basic necessities for survival including access to water .
The Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene group (EWASH) is a coalition of almost 30 organisations working in the water and sanitation sector in the occupied Palestinian territory. Established in 2002, its members include international and national NGOs and UN agencies.