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"Israel announced changes in access to Gaza’s coastal waters 20 times last year. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has treated the Gaza fishing industry as “a lever for pressure” on the two million Palestinians living in the territory, which has been under Israeli economic blockade since 2007."
Palestinians collect fish for sale at Gaza’s seaport in April 2019. (Ashraf Amra /APA images)
“…Palestinian farmers do not have enough water. This situation is locked in by a water agreement signed with Israel in 1995, as part of the “Oslo II” process. And as the water levels drop, tensions rise. It gets worse with every scorching summer.
As it controls the most water but needs it the least, Israel has the choice to negotiate fairer agreements. But what must be challenged first is the thinking that led to the agreements in the first place – an economic doctrine which sees water as nothing more than a commodity to be sold or traded, and a political ideology that is fixated on holding on to as much water as possible.”
View of the Jordan river
In the Gaza Strip this winter, about 235,000 people living in 39 low-lying areas are at risk of flooding from overflow of stormwater facilities and sewage pumping stations. They will experience an increase in waterborne diseases, and suffer property losses, disruption of livelihoods and services, and displacement.
Israel’s blockade prevents access to tools and equipment to rebuild the water and sanitation infrastructure that it had bombarded and destroyed. 97% of the water in the Gaza Strip is unfit for consumption.
This week, Israel opened one of the gates of its rainwater reservoirs east of Gaza, causing flooding of large swaths of Palestinian land, drowning hundreds of dunams of agricultural land and destroying barley, wheat, and other crops. These reservoirs prevent Palestinians from storing rainwater to irrigate their crops and fill underground wells. Sources: UN OCHAOP, Counterpunch, MEM • See the AWJP's website for the entire fact list and one-page factsheets about Israel's control of water in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and illegal settlements.
Sources: UN OCHAOP, Counterpunch, MEM
Alliance banner, designed by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press.
"The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement that the water drowned 'hundreds of dunams of agricultural lands and damaged barley and wheat crops.' ” (Jan. 6, 2020)
Palestinians repair greenhouses following heavy rainfall in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 27 January 2016. Yasser Qudih-Apaimages