Israeli Control of Water

Since 1967, Israel has assumed control over all our water resources, thus depriving us of our right to access and use of one of our essential natural resources. Discriminatory measures adopted by the Israeli authorities include:

• Restricting our drilling of new water wells (especially in the Western Basin)
• Restricting our pumping or deepening of existing wells
• Denying us access to the Jordan River
• Restricting our access to areas with fresh water springs
• Limiting our ability to utilize runoff water (i.e. harvesting flash flood water from major valleys)
• Limiting our ability to develop water and sewage infrastructure

At the same time, wells for Israeli settlements, a few of  which are strategically located over areas characterized by high groundwater potential, are approved without delay and routinely drilled. Due to high pumping rates, these wells often dry up more shallow Palestinian wells located in the area. In the absence of access to any other water resource, our communities have no option but to purchase water, at a high cost, from the Israeli water company, that ironically pumps the water from the aquifers underlying the West Bank.

Israel’s
inquitable use of our water resources continued uninterrupted during the Oslo negotiations. This is supported by the fact that today Palestinians have access to less water quantities than prior to the signing of the 1996 Interim Oslo Agreement- with current water availability at 98 MCM as compared to 118 MCM. Meanwhile, our population has doubled since the signing of the Oslo agreement, meaning that the water available to us, per capita, has fallen dramatically.

During the pre-Oslo period in which Israel was solely responsible for water-related issues in the oPt, Israel failed to invest adequately in water and wastewater infrastructure to serve our communities. Since the signing of the Interim Agreement, Israel has consistently used the veto power to prevent us from undertaking projects designed to develop groundwater
resources  and wastewater treatment plants in the West Bank.

In addition to utilizing a disproportionate amount of water, Israeli settlements have caused significant environmental damage. Settlers discharge domestic, agricultural and industrial wastewater and solid wastes into nearby valleys without treatment. Polluting industries, such as aluminum and plastics, as well as waste disposal sites, have been transferred into the West Bank, particularly over the past 20 years as environmental controls in Israel have tightened. These practices threaten the quality of the groundwater and the surface water resources shared by the two parties.