Israel controls 80 % of Palestinian water and regional control has methodically grown for years
PNN
(Nablus) Amin Abu Wardeh
Sunday, 07 January 2007
Palestinian researcher Abu Kishek said that the Arab water security is
threatened due to Israeli policy and that any political solution to the
Palestinian issue will not happen except through the water.
The researcher said that Arab water security is facing a number of challenges,
and has been for a long time. However little attention has been paid to
Israel's steady take-over of water resources. “The solution to the entire
situation lies in the subject of water.” He pointed out that Israel began its
quest to control Palestinian water when the state was established in 1948.
Water has assumed top priority for Israel since it nationalized its water
project in 1949.
Israel worked to gain control of the groundwater and surface water in the Jordan
River basin, threatening the most fertile agricultural area. After the
occupation of the Golan Heights, West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip in
1967, Israel began taking control of all of those water resources and visits to
Lebanon began. Israel recently built a dam near Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan
Heights near the ceasefire line.
The Israeli government denies permits to Palestinians to dig new wells on their
own land. This is an old practice that means once a well is dry, there is no
more water. Inside Israeli settlements the drilling is free-flowing as it
notable from a distance in the greenery. A Palestinian researcher reports that
Israel controls 80 percent of Palestinian water resources.
Abu Kishek said that Israel's route in building of the Wall inside the West Bank
conforms 100 percent with the course of water basins and groundwater wells in
the West Bank. Per capita Israelis inside Israeli borders consume four times
more than Palestinians, while Israeli settlers in the West Bank consume seven
times more than Palestinians.
Regarding the Israeli policy to control the water in Palestine, he said that it
includes the destruction of large parts of the water utilities, such as the
demolition of wells and the destruction of irrigation systems and reservoirs
and water lines in the West Bank. This all results in a major deficit in the
underground reservoir, and the increasing suffering of some of the population
for access to drinking water on a daily basis. Israel's destruction of the
water supply for many Palestinian cities added to the salt content of the well
water in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which has also led to a decline in
agricultural production.
Abu Kishek pointed out that Israel has dug 500 water devices along the boundary
of the West Bank, while along the northern edge of the Gaza Strip Israeli pumps
operate 18 hours per day. The route of the Wall in the West Bank was set to take
the Palestinian water supply into Israeli boundaries, in addition to what is
already taken by the Israeli settlements inside the West Bank. And that
included destroying existing greenery and agriculture.
Israel has also been diverting water from the Jordan River and part of the
waters of the Negev's western basin. The ill-effects of Israeli water theft are
clear on the Dead Sea, which the Israelis are now trying to have the Red Sea
pump into by destroying large tracts of land to build a connecting point.
Abu Kishek added that the goal of the Israeli government in its frequent visits
to Lebanon was to gain control of regional water. In 1978 Israel was able to
control the waters of the Litani River and had installed pumps large near the
Khardali Bridge, with a pipeline stretching 10 kilometers from the river
through the town of Taibe. Israel had major storage tanks in the southern
outskirts of the town of Aita Al Shaab for storing Litani water and
distribution methods to the settlements in the Upper Galilee. Israel had
transferred the waters of the Litani River to Lake Tiberias which is inside
Israeli boundaries and under its control. Israel also dominated the water of
the Hasbani River. There are also Israeli attempts to take control of the
waters of the Tigris and Euphrates. There is also the role of Israel in the
conflict over the waters of the Nile.
As for reasons for the water crisis in the Arab world, Abu Kishek said that
there are several. They range from irregular rainfall, to the fact that most of
the sources of rivers come from outside its political borders, effects of global
warming, large population increases, development projects and ambitions in
foreign waters that seek to control and exploit.
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