Madison Rafah Journal

From B’tselem’s Report on the UN’s 16th World Water Day:
Waters that Cross Borders, Mar 22, 2009

• Palestinians are denied access to the above ground Jordan water basin by Israel.
• Israel takes 80% of the underground mountain aquifer, the largest and highest quality source of water, while allocating only 20% to Palestinians.
• There is a huge gap between Israeli and Palestinian consumption of water: 60 liters per person per day for Palestinians and 330 liters per person per day for Israelis. The World Health Organization recommends a minimum of 100 liters per person per day.
• Many Palestinians have to buy water at 3 to 6 times the regular price.
• 227,000 Palestinians in 220 towns and villages are not connected to the water system and 190,000 Palestinians live in towns and villages where the water network covers only part of the area.
• In Gaza, over-extraction by Israel of the Gaza Aquifer has resulted in seepage of salt water into the underground aquifer. Only 7% of water in Gaza meets water standards.
• Israel’s water policy in the Occupied Territories is designed to preserve the quantity of water that Israel uses both in Israel and in the Israeli settlements.
• Israel has failed to construct infrastructure to connect rural Palestinian populations and maintain existing networks supplying Palestinian towns and villages, while Israeli citizens benefit from advanced infrastructure enabling unlimited water consumption.
• During times of shortage (summer, drought), Mekorot, the Israeli Water Company, prioritizes settlements over Palestinian communities by closing the valve of the main water pipeline, causing a rotation of water supply in some areas and scarcity in others.
• Israel’s agricultural settlements in the Palestinian Jordan Valley consume 13 times the amount of water accorded to Palestinian agriculture. (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – OCHA)
• International Law on Water Rights, (www.btselem.org/english/Water/International_Law.asp) “In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.” (Common Article 1)
• Israeli military orders issued regarding water resources changed the legal structure of the water sector in violation of Article 43, which prohibits an occupying state from changing legislation in effect prior to the occupation.
• Use of ground water of the occupied territory in settlements violates Article 55, which limits the use of occupied territory’s water sources by the occupying state.
• The quantity of water and the regularity of distribution supplied to settlements are vastly larger than to the Palestinians in violation of Article 27, which prohibits discrimination between residents in an occupied territory.
• The main principle in international law for division of water between countries is that of fair and reasonable use.

Conclusion: The Legal Dimension

Resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli water dispute should be governed by international law, which recognizes the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip as occupied territories. Israel is violating the Hague Regulations (1907) and the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) by controlling and exploiting Palestinian natural resources.

Soon after the occupation began in June 1967, Israel imposed a number of military orders to control Palestinian water resources. Among them was Order No. 92, issued on 15 August 1967 by the Israeli military commander, stating that water was to be considered a strategic resource. Numerous other orders followed, extending complete Israeli control over Palestinian water resources. According to international law, Palestinian water rights include:

• Absolute sovereignty over all the Eastern Aquifer resources, as this aquifer is completely located beneath the West Bank and is not a shared resource;
• Equitable water rights in the Western Aquifer and Northeastern Aquifer, as these aquifers are recharged almost entirely from the West Bank;
• Equitable water rights in the Jordan River system: As a downstream riparian to the Jordan River system, the area of the Palestinian territories is legally entitled to an equitable share of the system’s water resources. In this context, the Johnston Plan for Middle East water allocation, which was developed in the mid-1950s, called for, among other things, the West Ghor canal to supply the West Bank with 250 mcm to meet the needs of Palestinians. While this canal was never built because of the political conflict, the Palestinian water rights in the Jordan River system remain.
• Water and fishing rights in Lake Tiberias: This natural reservoir is an integral part of the Jordan River system, in which the area of the Palestinian territories is a riparian with the privilege of equitable utilization.
• Full compensation for damages to Palestinian water resources caused by Israel, and for Palestinian water utilized by Israel over the years: International water compensation expert Thomas Stauffer has estimated compensation for water, at a minimum, at $45 billion, not including interest.