Israeli settlers consume water seven times more than Palestinians | Water

Water expert Jad Isaac told Al Jazeera that Palestinians are being tricked into buying 100 million cubic meters (26 billion gallons) of water a year from Israel while their own sources are seized to force displacement.

In the occupied eastern West Bank, the al-Auja Spring has been flowing for centuries, constituting one of the largest and oldest water basins in Palestine.

But Palestinian families who have depended on it for generations say Israeli settlers are effectively stealing the water, creating a crisis that experts call “water apartheid“.

An Israeli settlement outpost now stands among the villagers of al-Auja and their water source. Residents report that settlers have fenced off the area and installed pumps that siphon water directly from the aquifer, leaving Palestinian pipes dry.

“The settlers banned us,” Salama Kaabneh, the mukhtar (head) of the Kaabneh clan, told Al Jazeera Arab’s Givara Budeiri. “There is an engine that draws water from the same basin… 800 meters [2,625 feet] deeper than the opening of the source.

A systemic imbalance

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Jad Isaac, director of the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ), revealed the staggering scale of inequalities created by Israeli military control over water resources.

“The Israeli settler consumes about seven times more water than a Palestinian citizen,” Isaac said.

“The Palestinian individual’s share does not exceed 80 liters [21 gallons] per day,” he explained, noting that in some marginalized communities this drops below 15 liters. [4 gallons] – “well below the overall minimum recommendation of 100 liters per day”.

This inequality is visible from the sky. Drone footage obtained by the Reuters news agency reveals withered, brown Palestinian greenhouses adjacent to lush green settlement agriculture that thrives on seized water.

The “Oslo trap”

With their natural springs seized or blocked, Palestinians have fallen into what Isaac describes as a “trap” set by the authorities. Oslo Accords.

“Israel has refused to negotiate on Palestinian water rights… replacing the issue with requiring the Palestinians to submit their needs to the Israeli side, who then sells them to them,” Isaac said.

He pointed out that the Palestinian Authority is now obliged to buy more than 100 million cubic meters (26 billion gallons) of water at market prices from Israeli companies each year, effectively buying out their own natural resources.

Isaac said that under military orders, Israel took “full control” of water sources, citing recent moves to establish a “Crimson Wall” in the northern Jordan Valley to further separate Palestinian communities from their agricultural lands.

“Slow moving”

Rights groups warn that this artificial thirst is a strategic method to force Palestinians from their homes.

According to data provided by ARIJ to Al Jazeera, more than 56 water sources in the West Bank have been subject to repeated attacks or takeovers by settlers.

“The seizure of sources… indicates a clear shift from simple control of resources to the use of water as a tool of direct pressure on the population,” Isaac warned.

“Many families are pushed into internal or external migration due to the loss of their livelihoods, representing a slow displacement of rural Palestinian communities. »

“We returned to the wells”

The seizure of water resources appears to have explicit support from the Israeli government.

In a video widely circulated online, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised the settlers for taking physical control of the springs.

“I see the results of your wonderful work. We returned to the water wells and regained control of all these areas,” Smotrich can be heard saying in the viral clip. “It’s a pleasure to visit here. You are heroes; keep up the work.”

While the minister applauds, Palestinian infrastructure is being dismantled.

“Israel prevents Palestinians from building dams to collect rainwater and imposes restrictions on work in Area C,” Isaac noted, adding that the separation wall alone has isolated 31 Palestinian artesian wells.