Conditions in Gaza Spiral Downwards

Each survival challenge affects the others: 

“The argument over whether Israel has effective control over Gaza doesn’t alter the facts: Some 95 percent of the water in Gaza’s aquifer isn’t fit to drink, and purified water is distributed to households under unhygienic conditions; there is electricity for eight hours a day or less; about 100 million liters of sewage flow into the sea every day, both because of the power outages and because of delays in bringing spare parts and new pumps into Gaza; the residue of spent Israeli ammunition affects the environment and people’s health in ways that have yet to be investigated; unemployment has soared to about 40 percent, because Israeli movement restrictions have strangled production; and hundreds of thousands of young people who have never left this crowded enclave know no other reality.”

Ahead of a Disaster in Gaza

A Palestinian woman bakes bread in a tent outside her dwelling in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip December 19, 2016.  IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS

Another Atrocity against Bedouins

Israel’s relentless attacks of water sources in the West Bank continue:

“ Nearly 200,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank do not have access to running water, according to Amnesty International.

Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq stated in a 2013 report that just half of Palestinian proposals for wells and improvement projects to the water network were approved by Israel between 1995 and 2008, compared to a 100 percent approval rate for Israeli projects.”

Israeli forces destroy water pipeline serving Bedouin villages in northern West Bank

For more on the long plight of Bedouins see Facts & Context

A New Campaign Launches from Palestine

In late 2016, Al Haq launched a new campaign to expose how Israel exploits natural resources in Palestine--and how this sustains the Occupation:

"The campaign highlights how the Israeli occupying forces have taken control of the water, land, gas and oil reserves, quarries and Dead Sea minerals, allowing it to sustain and expand the settlements, internationally recognized and condemned as illegal.

To pressure Israel and complicit corporations to stop exploiting natural resources which rightfully belong in the hands of the Palestinian people, Al-Haq calls for international, national and local sanctions that target individuals and companies involved in illegal activity, or forms of trade that support illegal activity."

Al Haq Launches "Facts on the Ground" How Natural Resources fuel the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The Israeli Army Routinely Demolishes Communal Water Cisterns and Water Wells

In 2011 alone, the army destroyed 89 water structures in the West Bank, including 21 wells, 34 cisterns, and many small fixed water tanks that have been given to rural households: 

"The Israeli government uses such denial of water to trigger people displacement, particularly in areas slated for colonial expansion, especially since these communities are mostly farmers, who depend on water for their livelihoods. Cutting off Palestinian communities from their water resources usually precedes dispossession of land for new colonial projects." 

Although this article was posted in 2014, we have put it on our blog because of its comprehensive overview and graphic (Palestinian Springs Affected by Settler Activity, March 2012. See below.) As you can imagine, the situation is much worse three years later.

Israel’s Water Genocide