'Water protectors' connect the issues in Standing Rock

Nadya Raja Tannous, a members of the Palestinian Youth Movement—United Sates, writes of the parallels between the situation of Native people and Palestinians—and more.

Why did I go in the first place? Because somewhere in the awkward power dynamic of being a US citizen, a non-native inhabitant of Turtle Island, and a Palestinian in the Diaspora, I saw the struggle for livelihood and culture, the struggle against settler-colonialism, the struggle to protect the sacred and maintain your own legitimacy, and the ever ominous force of erasure and historical amnesia. What I later saw at Standing Rock both embodied this and became bigger than it; as a Mohawk Elder said to me, “Without water, we [humans] are infertile dust”.

Palestinians join Standing Rock Sioux to protest Dakota Access Pipeline

Photo: Haltom El-Zabri with creative help from Palestinian Youth Movement-USA. 

Photo: Haltom El-Zabri with creative help from Palestinian Youth Movement-USA. 

Palestinians in the West Bank continue to be desperate for adequate water

Israel cuts water every summer but this year’s cutback was unprecedented. Yet nearby Israeli settlements have swimming pools and beautiful gardens.

Ramallah, occupied West Bank - Enas Taha, a resident of the Palestinian village of Kafr al-Deek in the occupied West Bank, has become desperate.
"Since the [water] crisis started in June, the municipality has been able to supply water for only one hour twice a week," Taha told Al Jazeera. "I am checking the weather forecast every day; they announced rain three weeks ago, but it has not come yet. The only thing I can do is to pray to God."

Palestinian villages 'get two hours of water a week'

Taha shows her empty beehives: 'Last year, we had bees so we could produce our own honey, but all the bees died due to lack of water; there are not enough flowers' [Eloise Bollack/Al Jazeera] 

Taha shows her empty beehives: 'Last year, we had bees so we could produce our own honey, but all the bees died due to lack of water; there are not enough flowers' [Eloise Bollack/Al Jazeera] 

A Rare Look Inside

This video is about life in Balata and Aida Camps and includes a section about water in Aida Camp.

In her first on-the-ground report from Palestine, Abby Martin gives a first-hand look into two of the most attacked refugee camps in the West Bank: Balata and Aida camps.

The Empire Files: Inside Palestine's Refugee Camps

please view the video here

 

Bluewashing around the USA

This article, written by Nancy Murray of the Alliance, summarizes of some of the efforts to promote Israel's "water solutions" in various states. While the list isn't complete, it does show how water technology is being used to demonstrate that Israel is an indispensable force for good in the world. Is your state on this list?

The Israeli national water company Mekorot is the flagship of Israel’s Apartheid Water practices.  Where it has sought international contracts it has been targeted by (sometimes successful) Stop Mekorot campaigns, including in Argentina, Italy, Greece, Portugal, India, Brazil and the Netherlands.

In the USA, while Mekorot has a presence (see Delaware and Ohio below), the state company is not the sole face of Israel’s water prowess.  Instead, over the past few years, some of Israel’s 300 or so water tech ‘start up’ companies have been ratcheting up efforts to push into US markets, often with the backing of the Israeli government.  Governor-led trade missions to Israel have resulted in agreements to form water partnerships and many joint water and other high tech projects have received funding from the Israel-US Bi-national Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation.  

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