Ammar Askari’s Letter to Governor Doyle
Dear Governor Doyle,
I am writing you with regards to your upcoming trip to attend the fifth annual International Water Technologies and Environmental Control Exhibition in Israel.
While I support promoting Wisconsin businesses abroad, I feel that water issues in relation to Israel are sensitive ones.
As the country that currently maintains the longest modern occupation, that is responsible for the displacement of hundred of thousands of Palestinians, and that confiscates land and demolishes homes at will, Israel has added water theft to its long list of violation of international law as an occupying power.
Under international law it is illegal for Israel to expropriate the water of the Occupied Palestinian Territories for use by its own citizens, and doubly illegal to expropriate it for use by illegal Israeli settlers.
Yet, Israel and its Jewish settlers use 83% of the water drawn from West Bank aquifers, leaving its Palestinian owners with a meager 17%. Palestinians under occupation are then charged 10 times what the settlers are charged for the use of the Palestinian water resources. The list of Israeli’s water violations is long and the space is limited.
May I urge you sir to investigate Israel’s water policy in the occupied territories and if my claims are proven to be correct, please take this issue into consideration when conducting business with this pariah state on our behalf.
Sincerely,
Ammar Askari
President, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
