By Palestine Chronicle Staff
B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories has published a new report yesterday revealing that Israel has reduced the amount of water given to Palestinian villages in the northern West Bank, a policy that is currently still in effect.
The report stated, “In early June 2016, during the fasting of Ramadan, Mekorot – Israel’s national water company – scaled down the amount of water it supplies to several Palestinian communities in the northern West Bank. These communities suffered an acute water shortage throughout the summer, and the shortage has not yet abated.”
B’Tselem added that Israel follows the same policy every summer, although the amounts of water given to Palestinians is much less than the amount available to Israelis, a policy which has been refuted by the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO).
Summer 2016 – #Israel cut back on the already inadequate water supply to Palestinians | B'Tselem https://t.co/KL79D2vtlE #Palestine pic.twitter.com/dInVbVIsRE
— al whit (@soitiz) September 27, 2016
The report concluded, “Mekorot’s annual summer cutbacks to Palestinian communities is just one of the many reasons for the permanent water crisis in the West Bank.
“Other factors include the transfer of control over joint water resources to Israel, the inequitable distribution of usage rights over these joint resources, obstacles Israel places in the development of Palestinian water infrastructure, demolition and confiscation of existing infrastructure, restrictions on or denial of access to local natural water sources such as springs, wells and rainwater cisterns, and a consistent preference given to settlers when water is supplied.”
The report also said that Israeli destroyed water facilities and infrastructure in the West Bank, which escalated the situation.
It stated that one third of the amount of the water given to the West Bank is wasted due to the lack of adequate infrastructure. The amount of water, according to B’Tselem, does not increase even if there is a greater demand for it, as opposed to the amounts that are supplied to the nearby Israeli settlements.
(PalestineChronicle.com)
