Water

A WORK IN PROGRESS

RESOURCE: Lifesource (worth exploring)

ONLINE REPORTS

  • B’Tselem – Water supplied in Gaza unfit for drinking; Israel prevents entry of materials needed to repair system (23 August 2010)
  • B’Tselem - “International Water Day: Chronic water shortage in the West Bank due to discriminatory division of shared resources” (24 March 2010).
  • Adalah - “Adalah Petitions Supreme Court to Prevent Water Company from Cutting Off Water to 7500 Arab Residents of Rameh Village in Israel “ (23 March 2010).
  • Amnesty International - “Israel must allow Palestinians access to adequate water supplies” (22 March 2010) – Palestinians in the West Bank face continuing serious Israeli obstacles to accessing water.
  • Amnesty International - “The Day the Bulldozers Came…” (27 October 2009), quote – “The village of Beit Ula … is not connected to the Palestinian water network. Instead the community, located north-west of Hebron, relies on rainwater, which it collects and stores in pots dug in the ground, known as cisterns. The nine new cisterns built in 2006 as part of a European Union-funded project to improve food security became the pride of the village. The cisterns were vital to the survival of the nine families that used them… until the bulldozers arrived. “[The Israeli army] destroyed everything; they went up and down several timeswith the bulldozer and uprooted everything,” recalls Mahmoud al-’Alam. In a few hours, years of hard work had been undone.”.
  • Amnesty International - Israel rations Palestinians to trickle of water (27 October 2009), quote – “Amnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over the shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies (in the West Bank).”.
  • B’Tselem - Foul Play: Neglect of Wastewater Treatment in the West Bank (June 2009).
  • World Bank - West Bank and Gaza: Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Sector Development (April 2009).
    		•

    OFFLINE REFERENCES

    • Cassese, Antonio. “Powers and Duties of an Occupant in Relation to Land and Natural Resources”, in Playfair, Emma (ed.), International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (1992), p 419.
    • Matar, Ibrahim. “Exploitation of Land and Water Resources for Jewish Colonies in the Occupied Territories”, in Playfair, Emma (ed.), International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (1992), p 443.

    NEWS REPORTS

    UN says Gaza water supplies in danger of ‘collapse’ , UN News Centre, 14 September 2009
    Gaza water crisis prom    pts UN call for immediate opening of crossings    , UN News Centre, 3 September 2009

    ARTICLES:

    “Gaza water quality still cause for concern” by Ashraf Shannon, Press TV, Gaza, 7 January 2011

    Israel’s siege on Gaza: “Blue Baby Syndrome” from water contamination
    Includes: excerpt  from a UN Environmental Report on Gaza Water, 2009 and B’Tselem Report, August 2010

    PALESTINIAN CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (PCHR) “Poisoning of Gaza water puts population at risk”, Electronic Intifada, 11 August 2010

    FELDMAN, Yotam & BLAU, Uri: “A dry and thirsty land”, Haaretz, 20 August 2009

    REPORTS:

    Amnesty International Report “Thirsting for Justice” mde150282009en October 2009

    Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) “The Impact of the Israeli Offensive on the Water and Sewage Sectors in the Gaza Strip” report sewage, 14 July 2010

    World Bank Report “Assessment of restrictions on Palestinian water sector development” 18 April 2009 WaterRestrictionsReport18Apr2009(144514).pdf

    AUDIO:

    Raising Sand: The Politics of Water and medical care in Israel and Palestine, 8 August 2009

    In the Palestinian villages of Qarawat Bani Zayid, Kufr ‘Ayn, Beit Rima, Deir Ghasane, and Nabi Salah the taps have been running dry – no water for drinking, for washing, for livestock or agriculture. Many Palestinians in this area have not had water from their taps since March 15.
    Raising Sand talks with Susan Kopelman of Life Source, a Palestinian-led collective that works specifically on the issues associated with water in Israel and Palestine, and Israeli Ron Yaron of Physicians for Human Rights about the politics surrounding the medical situation facing Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley.

    ABC Radio Australia – Ann Barker reports on the water problems in Jayyous, Palestine, 10 July 2009

    This information was written by Editor on September 3, 2009