Palestinians in East Jerusalem go 10 months without water

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://972mag.com/palestinians-in-east-jerusalem-go-10-months-with-no-water/101508/

Israel refuses to connect four neighborhoods in its self-declared capital to running water.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians in East Jerusalem have been cut off from a regular supply of running water for nearly a year due to to their location beyond Israel’s separation barrier.

Despite their location within the boundaries of Israel’s self-declared capital, the neighborhoods of Ras Shehada, Ras Khamis, Dahyat A’salam and the Shuafat Refugee Camp have been suffering from a severe water crisis since last March, when residents went three weeks without any water supply. They have been forced to buy water bottles at a high cost, and must limit their consumption by using electric pumps and industrial containers.
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The Water Authority and the Ministry of Infrastructure have said that they do not intend to connect the houses in these neighborhoods to the water supply, but rather will expand the flow to the central pipelines. This, despite admitting themselves that it will not solve the problem for the roughly 80,000 residents living in these areas.

And this is the usual nonsense from the usual suspects. Palestinians are shot at, murdered, their fields and groves destroyed on a regular basis, they are forced off their lands by illegal Israeli settlers, their houses are torn down under the convenient excuse that they don't have the proper permits, they are ghettoized and are cut off from the basic amenities by the "Only Democracy" in the Middle East, and yet that is glossed over and over with excuses and cries of Israel somehow being treated like a victim.

[oberliner]

1. 750 million people – about one in nine – lack access to clean water.

More than twice that many, 2.5 billion people, don’t have access to a toilet.

It's definitely a problem that is not restricted to Israel but rather is a worldwide one.

Hopefully this particular situation will be rectified soon and these people will once again have access to water like the vast majority of Palestinians living in the West Bank.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. Soon...

10 months seems almost like collective punishment, ober.

[oberliner]

3. Most Palestinian communities are connected to a central water network

For what that is worth.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

4. I'm sure that the Palestinians will find comfort

with your positive outlook. Perhaps if another ten months pass with this collective punishment they will look back to your courageous words and endeavor to persevere.

[oberliner]

5. Doubtful

There is a lot of work to be done to improve the conditions for the Palestinian people - first and foremost being an end to the occupation.

[azurnoir]

6. what number of those living in Israel and it's territories have no access to clean water ?

moreover who are they, what ethnic group(s) do they belong to? also have you checked out the reports on water distribution in the West Bank, it is an interesting read indeed

Some 113,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, in some 70 villages and communities, are still not connected to the water network and are dependent on water transported in tanker trucks, which raises the price significantly. In many of these communities, which are extremely poor, the families are forced to spend up to 40 percent of their income on this basic commodity. In these communities in Area C (under exclusive Israeli control) the average water consumption per day is about 20 liters per capita. Often a pipe of Israel’s Mekorot water company that reaches the settlements runs nearby, but the Palestinians are not allowed to connect to it.

In most areas of the West Bank the water supply in the summer is sporadic, with municipalities required to stagger the water supply between neighborhoods. In various cities, especially in the southern West Bank, there is no running water in houses for weeks and even months at a time. Consequently, according to estimates of international aid organizations, almost a million Palestinians do not reach the minimal average daily usage of 60 liters, set by the World Health Organization. On average Palestinians use 73 liters of water a day -- just a third the amount consumed by Israelis.

The Oslo Accords left full control of the water sources in the West Bank in Israel’s hands. The agreement was intended to allow the Palestinians to expand their water system by drilling independent wells. According to it, the Palestinian Authority is permitted to produce 118 million cubic meters of water a year from the water sources in the West Bank -- based on a calculation of Palestinian water usage from 20 years ago. Israel is allowed to use 483 million cubic meters a year.

But since 1995, instead of the Palestinians increasing the amount of water they produce, the figure actually dropped by 20 million cubic meters a year, to just 86.9 million, according to the Palestinian Water Authority. The reasons for this include: drought, dried up springs, Israel’s refusal to allow the rehabilitation of agricultural wells, and the fact that new drilling does not compensate for the old wells used when the area was under Jordanian control.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/.premium-1.573976

[oberliner]

7. Too many

But it's certainly a much better situation for all concerned than elsewhere around the world.

This problem is not one that is unique to Israel and the occupied territories.