THIRSTINGFORJUSTICE

PALESTINIAN ACCESSTO WATER RESTRICTED

WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT

©A mn e s t y I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Amnesty International October 2009

Index: MDE 15/028/2009

WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT

Discriminatory Israeli policies in the OPTare the root cause of the striking disparityin access to water between Palestiniansand Israelis. Palestinian water consumptionbarely reaches 70 litres a day per person –well below the World Health Organization’s(WHO) recommended daily minimum of 100 litres per capita. By contrast, Israeli(daily per capita) consumption is fourtimes as much.The inequality is even more pronouncedbetween Palestinian communities andunlawful Israeli settlements, establishedin the OPT in violation of international law.Swimming pools, well-watered lawnsand large irrigated farms in Israeli settlementsin the OPT stand in stark contrast next toPalestinian villages whose inhabitants struggleeven to meet their essential domestic waterneeds. In parts of the West Bank, Israelisettlers use up to 20 times more water percapita than neighbouring Palestiniancommunities, who survive on barely 20 litresof water per capita a day – the minimumamount recommended by the WHO foremergency situations response.Israel controls and restricts Palestinianaccess to water in the OPT to a level whichneither meets their needs nor constitutesa fair distribution of shared water resources.Israel uses 80 per cent or more of thewater from the Mountain Aquifer, thePalestinians’ sole remaining water resource,which is replenished almost entirely bythe rainfall over the West Bank. Israel hasentirely appropriated the Palestinians’share of the Jordan River. It also hasadditional water resources which arenot shared with the Palestinians.Some 180,000-200,000 Palestinians inrural areas in the occupied West Bank haveno access to running water. Even in townsand villages which are connected to thewater network, the taps often run dry. Waterrationing is especially common during thesummer months. In many places Palestiniansreceive water only one day per week or everyfew weeks, in some areas not for months ata time. When their taps run dry, Palestiniansmust buy additional water brought in bywater tankers at a much higher price.Many communities not connected to thewater network must travel miles to find waterthat is expensive and often of dubious quality.The impact of water shortages and poorsanitation services in the OPT is most oftenfelt by the most vulnerable communities:those living in isolated rural areas and inovercrowded refugee camps. In recentyears unemployment and poverty haveincreased and disposable income has fallenin the OPT. As a result, Palestinian familieshave to spend an ever higher percentageof their income on water.In Gaza, some 90-95 per cent of the watersupply is contaminated and unfit for humanconsumption. Israel does not allow water tobe transferred from the West Bank to Gaza,and Gaza’s only water resource, the CoastalAquifer, is insufficient for the needs of thepopulation and is being increasingly depleted

THIRSTING FOR JUSTICE

PALESTINIAN ACCESS TO WATER RESTRICTED

Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) do not have access to adequate, safewater supplies. This long-standing problem has significantly hindered social and economicdevelopment in the OPT and denied many communities their rights to an adequate standard of livingand to food, health and work. Palestinian per capita water consumption remains below acceptableinternational standards for the protection of public health. Chronic water shortages affect crucialaspects of life including hygiene, agricultural and industrial activities, and livestock rearing.

CONTROL OF WATER IN THEOCCUPIED WEST BANK

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Israel determines the amount of waterPalestinians can extract from the sharedaquifer and the locations where extractioncan take place.

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Israel controls the collection of rain orspring water throughout most of the WestBank. Rainwater harvesting cisterns areoften destroyed by the Israeli army.

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Palestinians are not allowed to drillnew wells or to rehabilitate old wellswithout permits from the Israeli authorities.Such permits are difficult and oftenimpossible to obtain. Even pipelinesconnecting wells to Palestinian townsand villages require Israeli permits.

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The Israeli army controls access tothe roads which water tankers mustuse to deliver water to those Palestinianvillages not connected to the waternetwork. Many roads are closed or restrictedto Palestinian traffic, causing delaysor forcing the tankers to make longdetours which significantly increase theprice of water.These restrictions make it excessivelydifficult for Palestinians to access waterand to develop and maintain the water andsanitation infrastructure.

Index: MDE 15/028/2009

Amnesty International October 2009

WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT

THIRSTING FOR JUSTICE

PALESTINIAN ACCESS TO WATER RESTRICTED

by over-extraction and contaminated bysewage and seawater infiltration. Stringentrestrictions imposed by Israel on the entryinto Gaza of materials and equipmentnecessary for the development and repairof infrastructure have led to a markeddeterioration in the water and sanitationsituation there.During more than four decades of occupation, Israel has over-exploitedwater resources and neglected water andsanitation infrastructure in the OPT. It hasalso used the OPT as a dumping groundfor its waste – resulting in the pollutionof groundwater resources. Urgent actionis needed to ensure an adequate andequitable water supply for the Palestinianpopulation and to prevent further resourceand environmental damage.Due to Israel’s failure to fulfil its obligationsas the occupying power, the burden of meeting these challenges has fallen tointernational donors and, following itsestablishment in the mid-1990s, thePalestinian Water Authority (PWA).The PWA has extremely limited control overwater resources in the West Bank. Underthe Oslo Accords, it merely acquired theresponsibility of managing an inadequatewater supply. The amount of water whichthe Palestinians may extract from theshared aquifer is controlled by Israel, asare decisions relating to drilling or upgradingwells and implementing other water-relatedprojects. The activities of the PWA aresubject to restrictions imposed by Israel andare dependent on funding by internationaldonors. These constraints, compounded bypoor governance, fragmented managementand internal divisions in the PWA, contributeto one third of the water supply being lostthrough leakages. Donors have generallybeen reluctant to expose and effectivelyaddress obstacles which hinder the deliveryof water projects.

By virtue of its military occupation of the OPT,Israel must comply with both internationalhuman rights and humanitarian law in theOPT. Although Israel disputes this, theinternational community, including all relevantUN human rights bodies, have repeatedlyaffirmed that Israel is bound by internationalhuman rights and humanitarian law in itsconduct in the OPT and have repeatedly urgedIsrael to honour its obligations.Israel, as the occupying power, has welldefined responsibilities to respect thePalestinians’ human rights, including theright to an adequate standard of living –which encompasses the right to water andfood – the right to health and the right towork. It must not only refrain from takingactions that violate these rights; it must alsoprotect the Palestinian population frominterference with their rights by privateindividuals and take deliberate, concrete andtargeted steps to ensure that these rights arefully realized.The Military Orders seizing control ofPalestinian water resources in the OPT issuedby the Israeli army soon after it occupiedthe area (Military Orders 92 and 168 of Juneand November 1967, and Military Order 291of December 1968) remain in force today.The 1993 Oslo Accords did not change thelegal status of the OPT, which remain underIsraeli occupation and effective control.Indeed, the Accords specifically stipulate:“The issue of ownership of water and sewagerelated infrastructure in the West Bank willbe addressed in the permanent statusnegotiations” (Article 40). The permanentstatus negotiations, which were scheduledfor the late 1990s, have not yet taken place.

ISRAEL’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

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: A Palestinian woman in Samua, in thesouth of the occupied West Bank, washesclothes outdoors using water from a tanker asher house is not connected to the water network.

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: Residents collect drinking water at apurification plant in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip.Some 90 per cent of the water available inGaza is polluted and unsuitable for drinking.