Israeli Water Apartheid
The fact that Israel operates a water apartheid is shown in a large number of documents and videos. Some of them are listed here. This is a brief look at the issue with a focus on the Jewish National Fund. It is taken from the video here.
In 1967 Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza. It passed three Military Orders, 92,158 and 291. These ended all pre 1967 water agreements, and passed all control of anything to do with water to the Israeli military. The result is that Israel denies Palestinian access to the Jordan river, minerals and waters from the dead sea and takes 89% of waters from the Palestinian aquifer. It can destroy Palestinian water pipes, reservoirs, water tanks and cisterns.
The bottom right of the image shows the destruction of a well by Israeli settlers protected by an Israeli soldier.
The destruction continues. This image shows the destruction of a water pipe to supply 1000 Palestinians by an Israeli tractor. It was from a report for the UN dated October 2020. There is a short film with a focus on area C here.
For the last fifty years Israel has been destroying Palestinian water facilities at will.
At the same time Israel has been sinking wells, This shows Israeli illegal wells in the Jordan valley.
The result is that illegal settlers receive way more water than Palestinians.
There is no shortage of water for Israeli illegal settlements’ swimming pools, water sprays for agriculture and personal use. While Palestinians suffer water shortages, some especially the Bedouin sometimes extreme shortages see Al Haq, shows the WHO recommended minimum water consumption is 100 litres a day, Israelis consume about 240 – 300litres while Palestinians consume about 73 litres a day, some Bedouin far less.
The Jewish National Fund was set up to obtain land from Palestinians and put it for use by Jews only. Its support for water apartheid is a consequence of this primary function. If Jews settle the land obtained from Palestinians they will need water. The Jewish National Fund was one of the three companies that set up Mekerot, the Israeli water carrier. Even by 1967 it still made up one sixth of the company. There is plenty of evidence that the Jewish National Fund supports the settler movement in the West Bank. It has been supportive of the illegal settlements in the Jordan Valley – it built the roads, founded settlements, and built two huge reservoirs, Nahal Og with a capacity of 1.5 million cubic metres and the other Tirzah with a capacity of 2.8 million cubic meters.
The image above shows the JNF logo on the top left of the signposts. These show the JNF’s complicity in Israel’s water apartheid.