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The Israeli-Palestinian Water Conflict

(Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University) Haim Gvirtzman - The Palestinians insist that they suffer from water shortages due to the Israeli occupation. However, previously classified data shows that Israel has fulfilled all of its obligations according to the signed water agreements with the PA. Over the last 15 years, the development of water supply systems for the Palestinian communities has been carried out on an extensive scale, much larger than that called for in the Interim Agreement. In practice, the Palestinians' water supply increased by about 50%. In 1967, only four Palestinian towns were connected to a running water network. In March 2010, 641 of 708 Palestinian communities, which include more than 96% of the Palestinian population, were connected to running water, while in Jordan and Syria, most towns and villages are not. In Amman and Damascus, water distribution takes place only once or twice each week. The Palestinians claim that the water consumption of the average Israeli is four times greater than that of the average Palestinian. However, in 2006, water consumption was 170 cubic meters per person per year for Israelis and 129 for Palestinians. According to the PA, roughly 33.6% of their water leaks from internal pipelines, compared with 11% in Israel. The Palestinians have violated their part of the agreement by refusing to build sewage treatment plants (despite available international financing). Raw sewage discharged from Palestinian communities flows freely in many streams in the West Bank. The writer is a professor of hydrology at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a member of the Israel Water Authority Council.
2012-01-19 00:00:00
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