There are many factors that pose threats to water sources in Palestine, including excessive consumption due to the lack of Palestinian water resources, a population growth rate of 3.5% annually, and the fluctuation of rainfall amounts from year to year. which has led to the depletion of the available underground reserves. However, the most important of these threats is Israel, Palestine’s water sources are completely controlled by Israel, generally, the water quality is considered worse in the Gaza strip than on the west bank.
Palestinian water consumption
Israel has limited the Palestinian consumption of water in several ways. Israel has set a limit on the amount of water extracted from Palestinian wells so that it does not exceed 100 cubic meters per hour and prevented the Palestinians from digging new wells after confiscating the old wells and the lands on which the settlements were built.
And to approve digging new wells obliges Palestinians to not exceed 140 meters in depth, Israel deprives Palestinians of using the waters of the Jordan River and impedes water supplies to Palestinian municipalities.
How has the Israeli occupation affected the Palestinian water
Since the beginning of the occupation of Palestine, Israel has tended to control the water resources in the Palestinian territories and has taken many orders that stipulate its ownership of water in Palestine.
on June 7, 1997, Israel issued an order which states that “all the water in the newly occupied territories is owned by the State of Israel. Another order issued on 15/8/1967 stated that “full authority was given to control all matters related to the water concerned by the Israeli courts.”
These decisions were followed by a set of practical measures that threats Palestinian water sources to extend Israeli control over water resources, including:
- Confiscation of Palestinian wells for Israeli settlements.
- Withdrawing large quantities of Palestinian water by digging wells inside Israeli settlements (50 wells in the West Bank, 43 in the Gaza Strip, and 26 along the armistice line between Israel and the Gaza Strip).
- Restricting the valley’s water from reaching the Palestinian areas, as is the case in the Gaza Strip.
- Transferring water from Palestinian areas to cities inside Israel.
Water pollution in Palestine
Israel’s pumping of groundwater in an excessive manner led to an increase in salinity in the aquifer, such as the intrusion of the waters of the high-salinity Upper Cinnamic System – Toroni into areas of freshwater. Studies have indicated that the salinity rate is higher than the internationally recommended (50 mg per liter) in 27.2% of the water in the West Bank. In addition, nitrates pollute many water sources. In Tulkarm, the percentage of water escaping from nitrate pollution does not exceed 27%, while the percentage drops in Qalqilya to 23%. Nitrate levels rise to 50 mg per liter in 14% of well water. Finally, the percentage of water contaminated with alkaline layers reaches 85%.
Caused by Israeli dumpsites, settler waste, and Israel restrictions on Palestinians preventing them from developing waste treatment facilities more than half of all waste produced by Palestinians in the West Bank remains untreatedPalestinian waste is the major contributor to pollution in the territory, due to Israel restrictions Israel has “exclusive control” over water resources and waste management in the West Bank-based on the Oslo Accords Between 1995 and 2008, a little more than half of the Palestinian waste treatment projects were approved by Israel, compared with 96 percent of projects in settlements Israel routinely requires that new Palestinian treatment facilities manage both wastes from Palestinian communities and Israeli settlements, leading the PA to reject these proposals.
Water pollution in Gaza causes the spread of diseases spread which cause the deaths of children and infants.
