Who's to blame for the severe water shortages?

by Muna Hamzeh-Muhaisen

14 August 1998

Record high temperatures, the highest in over 35 years, have turned this into a hellish summer in the Palestinian areas, with temperatures reaching into the 40s [104 - 122 Fahrenheit] in some areas and humidity making things even worse. Floor and ceiling fans are useless, doing little to alleviate the stagnating heat. Even so, sales of electric fans have skyrocketed in the second week of August, because they are relatively inexpensive (US$27-$54) compared to the high cost of installing central air-conditioning, which runs anywhere between US$1,644 and $1,918.

Keeping cool seems as elusive to Palestinians as real peace. While most Israelis are escaping the heat by spending a day at the beach or in the swimming pool, most Palestinians can do little except swim in their own sweat. Israel's blatant refusal to supply the Palestinians with sufficient amounts of water to meet daily demands has left tens of thousands of Palestinian homes, particularly in Hebron, Bethlehem and Jenin, without running water for periods extending anywhere from two weeks to three months.

In the Hebron area, the population of 300,000 has a daily summer demand of 25,000 cubic meters of water but only receives 5,548 cubic meters. With a population of 180,000, Bethlehem is supposed to receive 370 cubic meters per hour but only receives 60 cubic meters. While simple everyday tasks like taking a shower, watering plants or sticking a load of laundry in the wash are a constant headache for thousands of Palestinians, the Israeli public and settlers are splurging on water without giving the matter any thought.

A paper presented by Jad Issac, Director of the Applied Research Institute in Bethlehem, at an environmental crisis conference in Switzerland in October 1994 , provides some startling figures: “While Israel consumes 1,700 million cubic meters (mcm) per year, Palestine (excluding settlers) consumes only 219 mcm. Each Israeli (excluding settlers) annually consumes an average 370 cubic meters (cm); each Palestinian, on the other hand, uses only 107 cm.”

The settlers are an altogether different story. In addition to the fact that they receive a continuous supply of water, each Jewish settler annually uses between 650 and 1,714 cubic meters. In a recent report on the water crisis in the Bethlehem area, Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), a London-based Arab satellite TV, showed settlers splashing around in an indoor swimming pool inside a West Bank settlement, while Palestinian women and children in a nearby village were washing their piled dishes from small 10-liter containers of water that the head of the household had managed to bring home.

Israel's control of most of the water resources means that the Palestinians are likely to continue to suffer. The chief surface water resource in the area is the Jordan River basin. The headwaters of the Jordan River, which feed Lake Tiberias, are located in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Southern Lebanon, including Israel's self-proclaimed security zone. Meanwhile, Syrian and Jordanian waters, West Bank and Israeli springs all feed the Jordan River below Lake Tiberias. Surface waters contribute 30 percent of the total supply in Israel and the Palestinian areas and are under total Israeli control.

Israel also controls the rest of the water which comes from underground water resources. The major West Bank groundwater system is the West Bank Aquifer system, which annually discharges 600 - 660 million cubic meters but of which the Palestinians receive a mere 115 - 123 million cubic meters.

While the September 1993 Declaration of Principles between Israel and the PLO recognizes Palestinian water rights, it is vague on whether the Palestinians or Israelis will control water resources during the interim period. Annex III of the Declaration states that there will be “cooperation in the field of water, including a Water Development Program prepared by experts from both sides, which will also specify the mode of cooperation in the management of water resources in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and will include proposals for studies and plans of water rights of each party as well as the equitable utilization of joint water resources for implementation in and beyond the interim period.”

The May 1994 Cairo Agreement on Palestinian autonomy in Gaza and Jericho makes the issue of water control even less clear. At first glance, the agreement looks promising since it gives the Palestinians complete control over water resources in Gaza and Jericho, with the exception of Israeli military areas and settlements which will be served by Israel's Mekorot Water Company. Yet the agreement also states that “the Palestinian Authority shall pay Mekorot for the cost of water supplied from Israel and for real expenses incurred in supplying water to the Palestinian Authority.”

The Multilateral Working Group on Water has yet to make any serious progress on the issue. Israel's refusal to address the issue of water allocation and water rights, coupled with the absence of two vital parties to the issue of regional water dispute, Syria and Lebanon, has left the Working Group virtually impotent. Aside from focusing on data, enhancing water supply and water management, the Working Group has not reached any vital decisions worth noting.

When it comes to finding a drink of water to quench their thirst, many Palestinians don't give a hoot about the politics of the matter. Everyone knows that Israel follows a policy of unfair water distribution and they also know that the settlements are drowning in water at Palestinians' expense. But, many Palestinians know too that even the small amount that the Palestinians are getting from Israel is not being fairly distributed.

The 60 cubic meters/hour supplied to Bethlehem is far from sufficient. Since this is the case, area residents wonder why is it that the water supply in certain neighborhoods in Bethlehem is never cut off. An old water pipe which for years now has been going past the house of deceased former Bethlehem Mayor Elias Freij ensures that Freij's house and the surrounding neighborhood is never out of water.

“The fact that the house is located on the main Jerusalem-Hebron Road means that whenever water is pumped to Dheisheh or any of the villages in the south, that neighborhood gets water as well,” says an angry Mohammed Laham, president of the Public Service Committee in Dheisheh Refugee Camp.

Laham believes that internal disputes between the previous and new management of the Water and Sewage Authority is partly to blame for the severe water shortages seen in the district this summer. Following accusations of corruption and mismanagement, the previous director was replaced nearly two years ago but many of those who worked with him still have maintained their jobs.

“Sabotage is clearly taking place,” says Laham. “The new management is constantly replacing water switches which are intentionally being broken by individuals believed to be loyal to the old management, and I believe that Israel is taking advantage of this internal dispute by reducing the amount of water it is pumping into the district.”

The last time this summer that Dheisheh Refugee Camp was supplied with water was between July 22-27. Two weeks and many unbearably hot days later, water finally arrived on August 10 , to the relief of the 10,000 residents of the camp. After reaching a few houses at the edge of the camp, the water was cut off again. This on and off situation lasted nearly all day and then the water was cut off again.

“When something like this happens, you can be certain that sabotage has something to do with it,” says Laham. “Someone simply switched the water to a different location and it will take the Water Authority one or two days to find the location where this was done. Meanwhile, everyone in the camp is screaming to high heaven because they are completely out of water.”

Due to this water crisis, many Palestinian families are finding themselves forced to purchase water from mobile water tanks, a booming business in the Palestinian areas this summer. Palestinians whose homes are directly connected to water pipes pumping water to Israeli settlements are selling water to fellow Palestinians at exorbitantly high prices. One Bethlehem area resident is selling six cubic meters of water for US$41-$54 when the price of one cubic meter doesn't actually exceed US$2.74.

While the Bethlehem Municipality and the Water and Sewage Authority in Bethlehem are aware of the situation, they haven't taken any action to bring these money-hungry individuals to justice. In fact, all they have done is to tell the public, through a local newspaper report, to bring in their complaints about this overcharge.

The demand for water is so high that many families not only pay the cost but have to wait for nearly a week before their turn comes up because the waiting list is so long. Others who cannot afford to purchase water send their children door-to-door to fill empty coke bottles with drinking water.

“Our laundry has piled up, the house is filthy and the children scream for a shower every day,” says Intisar Hasan, a resident of the town of al-Doha, south of Bethlehem. “It is at times like this that I hate the Israelis for saying that Palestine was a desert and they made it green. My beautiful vegetable garden is all shriveled up when the sprinklers in Israel are never turned off. And what about my children? Don't they deserve a to splash around in a pool in this heat? Will they grow up without knowing what a pool looks like except on TV?”