Israel’s water crisis has been in the news a lot lately. We have all heard how low the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) is, and seen suggestions on how to save water this summer. Although it receives much less media coverage, water scarcity has also become a major issue in the Palestinian Territories.
This past week I visited Auja, a Palestinian community of 4,500 located 12 kilometers outside of Jericho in the West Bank.
In the mayor’s office, we met three farmers whose frustration was visible. They explained that the nearby Jewish settlements tap into Ein Auja, their village’s traditional source of water, leaving little leftover for Auja’s citizens to irrigate their crops. In the last twenty years the community’s agricultural productivity has shrunk from tens of thousands of dunams to just 600, and their unemployment rate has skyrocketed because the majority of Auja’s citizens are farmers.
Unfortunately, Auja’s situation is not unique. Earlier this month, the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem published a report detailing the acute water scarcity in the West Bank, and attributing it to both drought and to Israeli policy.
The report indicates that Israel maintains control over joint water resources, and forbids Palestinians from drilling into water sources without Israeli military approval. In addition to the drought conditions that are exacerbating water scarcity throughout the region, this situation makes it very difficult for Palestinians to meet their water needs.
The Palestinian Water Authority reports there is a water shortage of 40 to 70 million cubic meters, even though Palestinian per capita water consumption is 66 liters, only two thirds of what the World Health Organization recommends as the basic minimum necessary for health and sanitation.
::Ynetnews
For related prophecies on the West Bank and water, check out Israel’s Water Levels Go From Red to Black or Why is the Society for the Protection of Nature Supporting Settlements in the West Bank?
Photo: Fadi Tannas, BBC
Author: Rachel Bergstein
When her vegan summer camp counselor explained to a fifteen-year-old Rachel how the dairy industry pollutes the groundwater in poor rural communities and causes global warming, there was no turning back. Her green fire lit, Rachel became increasingly passionate about the relationship between human societies and the natural environment, particularly about the systemic injustices associated with environmental degradation. After snagging a B.A. in Peace and Justice Studies at the University of Maryland, where she wrote an undergraduate thesis on water injustice in Israel/Palestine and South Africa, Rachel was awarded the New Israel Fund/Shatil’s Rabbi Richard J. Israel Social Justice Fellowship to come and spread the green gospel in Israel for the 2009-2010 academic year. She currently interns for Friends of the Earth Middle East in their Tel Aviv office. When Rachel is not having anxiety about her ecological footprint, carbon and otherwise, she can be found in hot pursuit of the best vegetarian food Tel Aviv has to offer. She also blogs about her experience as an NIF fellow and environmentalist in Israel at organichummus.wordpress.com. Rachel can be reached at rachelbergstein (at) gmail (dot) com.
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