May 22, 2012

At a water conference on Monday, organized by the Technical University of Palestine, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Palestinian Water Authority, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said a strategic vision and a long-term plan was needed to resolve the crisis.

The Conference Chair, Rahil Mahmoud, said that Palestinian farmers should be supported, and that water shortages were a political issue since Israel controls 85% of water resources in the West Bank.

A report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released in March reveals that Jewish settlers have seized dozens of natural springs in the West Bank, banning the drilling of new wells and restricting access to scarce water resources for Palestinians.

Mr. Katz-Oz, Israel's negotiator on water issues, was quoted, "There is no reason for Palestinians to claim that just because they sit on lands, they have the rights to that water."

When water supplies are low in the summer months the Israeli water company Merkot closes the valves supplying the Palestinian towns so as not to affect the Israeli supplies. The settlements are able to fill their pools and water their gardens while the neighboring Palestinians must limit showering, cooking, and drinking.

Gaza strip relies predominantly on wells that are increasingly being contaminated with salty seawater due to over pumping by Israel. UN scientists estimate that Gaza will have no drinkable water within fifteen years.

Jewish settlers consume 300 liters per capita per day, compared to about 70 liters consumed daily by the Palestinians. Nearly 300,000 Palestinians in the West Bank are threatened by water scarcity, the report added.

Approximately 14,000 people are forced to buy water in tankers, which is water taken from their lands and resold to them at five times the price. They have access to about 30 liters per day, one tenth of the amount consumed by the Israelis.

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