Amira Hass : Israel Admits Cutting West Bank Water Supply, but Blames Palestinian Authority
Since the start of this
month, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been suffering the harsh
effects of a drastic cut in the water supplied them by Israel’s Mekorot
water company.
In
the Salfit region of the West Bank and in three villages east of
Nablus, homes have had no running water for more than two weeks.
Factories there have been shut down, gardens and plant nurseries have
been ruined and animals have died of thirst or been sold to farmers
outside the affected areas.
People
have been improvising by drawing water from agricultural wells, or by
buying mineral water or paying for water brought in large tankers for
household use and to water their livestock. But purchasing water that
way is extremely expensive.
Palestinian
Water Authority officials told Haaretz that people at Mekorot have told
them the supply cuts were going to last the entire summer. The sources
said they were told by the Israelis that there is a water shortage and
that everything must be done to assure that the local reservoirs
(located in the settlements) stay full so that the necessary pressure
can be maintained to stream the water through the pipelines leading to
other settlements and Palestinian communities.
Palestinian
municipal officials say that Palestinian workers for the Civil
Administration who are sent to regulate the quantities of water in the
Mekorot pipes told them the water cuts were made to meet the area
settlements’ demand for water, which is rising in the hot weather.
Similar cuts were initiated in the same areas last year, when the severe
water supply interruptions also occurred during Ramadan.
Mekorot
would not answer questions, referring Haaretz to the Israel Water
Authority and the Foreign Ministry. Uri Schor, the Water Authority
spokesman, wrote that the quantities of water Israel sells to the
Palestinians throughout the West Bank, including in the Salfit area, has
gone up over the years.
“A
localized water shortage has developed for Israelis and Palestinians
alike in northern Samaria and it stems from the especially high
consumption because of the region’s intense heat,” Schor wrote. He added
that the shortage developed because the Palestinian Water Authority is
refusing to approve additional water infrastructure in the West Bank
through the joint water committee, “which has led to the old and limited
pipes being unable to transfer all the water needed in the region.”
An Israeli security source said settlements are also complaining about water shortages.
Palestinians deny foot-dragging, say water goes to settlements
A senior Palestinian Water Authority official denied that Palestinian foot-dragging was contributing to the water shortages.
“The
Israeli Authority is misleading the public,” he said. “The pipes do not
need to be upgraded. USAID, for example, just finished the new pipeline
in Deir Sha’ar to serve the population in Hebron and Bethlehem. Israel
needs to increase the pumping rate from the Deir Sha’ar pumping station
and more than half a million Palestinian would receive their equitable
share.
“Israel,
however, submitted a project to increase the size of the pipe serving
Israeli settlements in the Tekoa area, and the Israel Water Authority is
blackmailing the Palestinian Authority to approve the Israeli project
in exchange for increasing the water from the Deir Sha’ar booster
station.”
Schor
brought examples from the months of January-May over the past four
years that show that there has indeed been an increase in the quantities
of water supplied to the Salfit and Nablus districts, from 2.7 million
cubic meters of water in 2013 to 3.48 cubic meters this year.
But
the internal records of the Palestinian Water Authority show that in
May of this year there was a cut in the water supplied to the town of
Bidya, with 12,000 residents, from 50,470 cubic meters in March, to
43,440 in May. In May of last year, Bidya received 45,000 cubic meters.
In
the town Qarawat Bani Hassan, consumption in May was higher than in
March (17,000 cubic meters compared to 15,000), but last May consumption
reached 20,000 cubic meters, and according to a Palestinian official
there’s no way to explain the drop in usage other than by a drop in
supply. The supply cut in June, meanwhile, has been much sharper – of up
to 50 percent per hour.
The
Oslo Accords, which were meant to remain in effect until 1999,
preserved Israeli control over the West Bank’s water sources and
discriminates in how the water is divided. Under the agreements, Israel
gets 80 percent of the water from the West Bank mountain aquifer, while
the rest goes to the Palestinians. The agreement also sets no limit on
the amount of water Israel can take, but limits the Palestinians to 118
million cubic meters from the wells that existed prior to the accords,
and another 70 million to 80 million cubic meters from new drilling.
For
various technical reasons and unexpected drilling failures in the
eastern basin of the aquifer (the only place the agreement allows the
Palestinians to drill), in practice the Palestinians produce less water
than the agreements set. According to B’Tselem, as of 2014 the
Palestinians are only getting 14 percent of the aquifer’s water. That is
also why Mekorot is selling the Palestinians double the amount of water
stipulated in the Oslo agreement – 64 million cubic meters, as opposed
to 31 million.
The
Coordinator for Government Activity in the Territories said, “As a
result of increased water consumption in the summer, it’s necessary to
manage and regulate the flow to enable the highest possible supply to
all the populations. Given the problem, the head of the Civil
Administration has approved an emergency regulation to operate the Ariel
1 drill rig to increase the amounts of water to residents of northern
Samaria, with an emphasis on the Salfit area; another 5,000 cubic meters
of water per hour was also approved for the southern Hebron Hills.”
The
coordinator also noted that the Civil Administration has to battle
theft from water lines that lead to Palestinian communities. Just
yesterday, it said, it had discovered two thefts of water from a
pipeline that supplies the Salfit area.
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