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Myths and Facts in Israeli-Palestinian Water Conflict

(Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University, Jan 2012) Haim Gvirtzman - Currently there is almost no difference in per capita consumption of natural water between Israelis and Palestinians. The large difference in water usage that existed in 1967, when the West Bank passed from Jordanian to Israeli rule, has been reduced over the last 40 years and is now negligible. As well, the per capita domestic water consumption of the Palestinians is significantly higher than the minimum human needs defined by the World Health Organization. Israel has fulfilled all of its obligations according to the agreements it signed in 1995 with the Palestinian Authority, and in fact has exceeded them. At least one-third of the water being pumped out of the ground by the Palestinians is wasted through leakage and mismanagement. No recycling of water takes place and no treated water is used for agriculture. 95% of the sewage produced by the Palestinians each year is not treated. Only one sewage plant has been built in the West Bank in the last 15 years, despite there being a $500 million international donor fund available for this purpose. The Palestinians refuse to build sewage treatment plants. The writer is a professor of hydrology at the Institute of Earth Sciences at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
2014-02-14 00:00:00
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