RamallahSince the beginning of this summer, the residents of the city of Hebron – the largest governorate in the West Bank – have been suffering from a stifling water crisis that has extended to its basic facilities, including hospitals, correctional centers, universities, and governmental and civil centers, after the occupation authorities reduced the city’s share of water by 40%.
The reduction in the city, which is inhabited by 300,000 Palestinians, came from the Israeli water company, and the residents of Hebron had no choice but to buy water to compensate for this shortage from non-potable sources or to ration their consumption of it, as the mayor, Tayseer Abu Sneineh, says. The water cycle (the time when the municipality pumps water to homes) used to be every 20 days, and after this reduction it became in the range of 45-53 days.
Abu Sneineh told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that the water crisis is not new, as is the case in the rest of the West Bank, but the reduction has deepened this crisis even more.
Speaking about the reasons for this crisis, Abu Sneineh identifies its beginning with the signing of the Oslo Accords and the postponement of negotiations on the water file to the final solution issues that were supposed to be discussed 5 years after the agreement. He continued, “It was a crime against the Palestinians.”
Why Oslo?
Initially, the September 1993 Declaration of Principles included a provision for the establishment of a Palestinian Water Management Authority, in addition to Annex 3 of Article 1 of the agreement, which stipulates “cooperation in the field of water and its development by experts from both sides” and “the equitable use of shared water resources during and after the interim period.”
Later, the text of the first Oslo Agreement, in Annex II, stated that the Palestinian Authority “shall form, manage and develop all water and sewage networks and resources in a manner that prevents any harm to water resources.”
“The Mekorot Water Company (the Israeli water company) will continue to operate and manage the existing water networks that supply the settlements and the military installations area with water,” and “all pumping operations (…) will be carried out according to the current quantities of drinking water and irrigation water, in return for which the Palestinian Authority will not negatively affect the quantities.”
During the “Oslo II Agreement” signed in 1995, the water aspect was more clearly defined through Article 40 related to water and sewage. Annex II included recognition of “Palestinian rights to water in the West Bank”, and it was the first time that Palestinian rights were referred to. However, the discussion of these rights was postponed to the final solution issues that were scheduled after 5 years from that time, during which a joint committee would discuss water issues.
Palestine water map
Returning to the water distribution map in the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank floats on 3 main basins in addition to the coastal basin of the Gaza Strip:
- The western basin (in the areas of Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Salfit) is considered the largest of these basins, as 365 million cubic metres of water are collected in it annually, and the Palestinians benefit from only 25 million cubic metres of it.
- Then there is the northeastern basin (in the Jordan Valley, Hebron and Bethlehem), which contains 145 million cubic metres, of which the Palestinians benefit from only 18%.
- Then the northern basin (in Nablus and Jenin), which collects 162 million cubic meters, 50% of which is used by the Palestinians.
While the agreement allows Israel to pump water to West Bank settlements, the Palestinian Authority is prevented from controlling it, says water expert Walid al-Hudali. “We have a surplus of water in Qalqilya, Tulkarm and Salfit, but we can’t use it,” he says.
Moreover, according to Al-Hudali, the Oslo Accords went beyond dividing the West Bank into areas (A, B, C) with regard to water, and gave Israel control over water sources located within the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. He continued: “The agreement included a trick that involved the Palestinians.”
Al-Hudali talks about two ways of circumventing the rights of Palestinians in the Oslo Accords:
- The first: by separating the administrations of services and water resources. Services means networks, water distribution, and bills, a large part of whose management was given to the Authority, but water resources remained in the hands of the Israeli water companies.
- The second issue is the “Joint Water Committee” which was established to discuss water issues related to the Palestinians but gave the Israeli committees the right to object, which made it of no real use.
Historical ambitions
Not only in the Oslo Accords, but in reviewing the beginning of Jewish settlement in Palestine, and even the occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, in the 1967 war, the Zionist movement sought to control all water sources.
Only two months after occupying the rest of Palestine in 1967, Israel issued a military order numbered (92) in which it considered all water resources to be government resources and subject to military rule. It also cancelled all well licenses issued by the Jordanian government (which ruled the West Bank before the occupation), and considered the Jordan River area a military zone, and the Palestinians no longer had any benefit from this river.
This was followed by two military orders in 1967 and 1968, which stipulated that “all wells, springs and water projects were to be placed under the direct authority of the Israeli military governor,” and that “all water sources in the Palestinian territories became the property of the state in accordance with Israeli law.”
Thus, Israel controlled 100% of the water resources and began exploiting them to serve its settlement projects, especially those based on agriculture.
With the signing of the Oslo Accords, this control was transformed with Palestinian approval, due to the loopholes in the agreement that the Palestinians accepted, even though it included explicit recognition of their rights to water.
Solutions killed by Oslo
In the opinion of the Director General of the Applied Research Institute, Jad Isaac, despite the recognition of Palestinian rights, the Israelis, in practical application, deal with the Palestinians as if they have water needs and not rights as stipulated in the agreement. Since then, these needs have remained constant at an amount not exceeding 15% of the total water, without taking into account the population increase over these years, or the change in the lifestyle.
Ishaq added to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “The Palestinian water controlled by Israel exceeds its needs. It has 500 million cubic metres annually that it sells to Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.”
Regarding the solutions available to the Palestinians, Isaac says that it is possible to recycle wastewater, or to benefit from rainwater by building dams, but all of this is also restricted by the Oslo Agreement with Israeli approval. He continued, “Israel not only controlled the water with this agreement, but also restricted the Palestinians in finding solutions to escape this control.”