Our Year End Appeal~

Friends,

We’ve been standing up - and standing out - for water justice for Palestinians for nine years. We know that using water as a weapon is now condemned by a majority of people in the U.S. and congress people of conscience. Our job is to engage and activate. Here is a snapshot of what we did this year. 

+ Stand Up & Stand-Out

We regularly organized demonstrations and stand-outs in the Boston area. Our banners create a compelling presence; our leaflets spark connections. Most recently, we did our annual demonstration on November 29th, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. (See photo of one of the four corners of Boston's Downtown Crossing we stood on that day.)

+ Social Media.  

Our Twitter account has nearly 3,000 followers; many are organizations with thousands of their own followers. Our website was visited over 2,000 times. Sixty-five percent were visitors from the US; the rest visited from over 60 other countries. We recently reached 1000 Facebook followers. Nearly 500 people receive our bi-weekly water facts.  If you would like to receive them, sign up under “Be Involved” on this website.

+ World Water Day (WWD)

Our yearly commemoration of WWD has included several stand-outs, a forum, and two webinars.  Watch our 2022 webinar “Parched in Palestine: Resisting Water Apartheid”!

+ What’s next?

As you know, we have been brainstorming how to expand our reach.  We will soon share our new national initiative for WWD 2023.  Until then, please consider donating by through our website here. Your donation is tax-exempt and will be carefully spent!

The Alliance

We Stand out on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

Forty-five years after the UN declared November 29 to be annually marked as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the Alliance took to Boston's streets with our banners and signs, and distributed hundreds of flyers. We engaged in discussions with passers-by, most of them supportive and happy to see us there.

There were about 30 people there and we distributed 300 flyers - not bad for a Tuesday lunchtime!

Water Fact: November 28, 2022

COP 27: Israel greenwashes on the world stage

 

The 27th UN Climate Change Conference (Nov. 6-18 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt) was the first COP in which Israel participated.  With a large delegation led by President Isaac Herzog and a $1.4 million pavilion hosting 36 events, Israel utilized the forum as a major public relations exercise and business opportunity showcasing its technological prowess and water expertise. 

 

As President Herzog told the gathering on Nov. 7, Israel “has the capability and know-how to deflect severe water shortages and to offer solutions to food insecurity.  We are eager to share all our expertise and practical tools: that is what a Renewable Middle East is all about.” 

 

With Israel poised to inaugurate a far-right government that has vowed to accelerate the seizure of West Bank land and water resources, Herzog described the ‘Renewable Middle East’ as “a regional ecosystem of sustainable peace.”  

 

As an example of a “creative, win-win-win partnership,” he pointed to the deal negotiated by Israel, Jordan and the UAE last year under which Israel would annually export to Jordan 200 million cubic meters of potable desalinated water in return for 600 megawatts of solar power exported from a solar park to be built by the UAE in Jordan.   With much fanfare, Jordan, Israel and the UAE signed an MOU for the agreement at the beginning of the COP. 

 

The COP-timed message that Israel has innovative solutions to solve the world’s water problems was given a full court press from the US to the Philippines in opinion pieces signed by Israel’s ambassadors.  

 

It was given the US stamp of approval in a  panel in Israel’s pavilion on ‘Water reuse to address climate challenges’ that included an administrator with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who, in glowing terms, underscored Israel’s water accomplishments.   The EPA in 2018 had signed a deal with an Israeli water start up brokered by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, the Republican party’s largest donor, who also lavishly funded  Israel’s settlements.  

 

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh’s description at COP27 of Israel’s theft of Palestinian water resources, uprooting of olive trees and destruction of the environment made no discernible ripple at an event resembling at times a trade fair and lobbyist jamboree, with 10 Israeli companies presenting their wares in a ‘Climate Action Innovation Zone’ and no fewer than 636 fossil fuel lobbyists in attendance. 

 

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