Is Israel Weaponising Water in Palestine? | People & Power Documentary
Summary
TLDRThe script highlights the dire water crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories, where decades of Israeli occupation have led to Palestinians struggling to access clean water. Israel controls most freshwater resources, exacerbating the situation with military operations and a 16-year blockade in Gaza. The crisis is further complicated by climate change, with rising temperatures and sea levels. Meanwhile, Israel enjoys a water surplus. The script also discusses the political implications, including the impact of Israeli settlements and the Oslo Accords, and the urgent need for international intervention to alleviate the crisis and promote cooperation for a sustainable water future.
Takeaways
- 🚨 Decades of Israeli occupation have severely impacted Palestinians' access to clean water, with Israel controlling most freshwater resources in the West Bank and Gaza.
- 💥 The Gaza Strip faces a dire water crisis, exacerbated by a 16-year blockade, military operations, and rising temperatures and sea levels.
- 🏙️ In Israel, residents enjoy consistent water supply, contrasting sharply with the situation in Gaza where water scarcity is a daily reality.
- 🌡️ Rising temperatures and prolonged droughts are depleting water sources, leading to a water deficit in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
- 🚰 Israel, recognized as a water superpower, has the authority to control water supply to the occupied Palestinian territories, affecting the lives of millions.
- 🚚 Private enterprises in Gaza have stepped in to provide water to residents, often at a high cost and with questionable hygiene.
- 🏠 Many Palestinians spend a significant portion of their income on water, highlighting the economic burden of the water crisis.
- 🌊 Gaza's only freshwater source, the Coastal aquifer, is damaged by sewage seepage, high nitrate levels, and seawater intrusion, rendering much of it undrinkable.
- 🏭 International efforts, including the construction of desalination plants, aim to provide safe drinking water to Gazans, but are hampered by delays due to the Israeli blockade.
- 🌍 The water crisis in Gaza is part of a larger environmental threat, with climate change affecting weather patterns and water availability in the region.
- 🤝 The script underscores the need for international pressure on Israel to lift the blockade and for cooperation between Israel and Palestine to address the water crisis.
Q & A
What is the primary issue discussed in the video script related to the Palestinian territories?
-The primary issue discussed is the struggle of Palestinians to access clean water due to Israeli occupation and control over water resources in the West Bank and Gaza.
How does the Israeli occupation impact the water supply in the West Bank and Gaza?
-Israeli occupation controls most of the freshwater resources, leading to a water deficit, and military operations have a devastating impact on the water supply in the West Bank and Gaza.
What is the situation with the water supply in Gaza according to the script?
-Around 97% of natural water supplies in Gaza are undrinkable, forcing residents to rely on private enterprises for water delivery, which is often of questionable hygiene.
What are the health risks associated with the water crisis in Gaza?
-The water crisis in Gaza increases the risk of waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and hepatitis, with about a quarter of all diseases in Gaza being caused by water contamination.
How does the script describe the role of the Coastal aquifer in Gaza's water supply?
-The Coastal aquifer is Gaza's only source of fresh water, but it has been damaged by over-pumping, seawater intrusion, and pollution from untreated sewage, making the water unusable.
What is the impact of the Israeli blockade on water infrastructure projects in Gaza?
-The Israeli blockade makes it difficult to import materials needed for water infrastructure projects, causing delays and difficulties in completing projects like desalination plants.
What is the role of international donors and governments in addressing the water crisis in Gaza?
-International donors and governments have stepped in to help by funding projects like desalination plants to provide an alternative source of water for Gaza residents.
What challenges does the Jordan Valley face regarding water resources, as mentioned in the script?
-The Jordan Valley faces challenges as Israeli authorities control water infrastructure and settlers encroach on Palestinian water resources, leading to conflicts and reduced access to water for Palestinian farmers.
How does the script suggest resolving the water crisis in the Palestinian territories?
-The script suggests that the resolution requires international pressure on Israel to end the blockade, political solutions to end the occupation, and cooperation and compromise between Israel and Palestine.
What broader implications does the script mention regarding water scarcity in the region?
-The script highlights that rising temperatures and water scarcity pose existential challenges for both Israel and Palestine, emphasizing the need for immediate action to ensure a sustainable water supply.
Outlines
💧 Water Scarcity and Control in Palestine
The script discusses the dire water situation in Palestine due to the Israeli occupation and control over freshwater resources. It highlights the devastating impact of military operations and the blockade on Gaza's water supply, with rising temperatures and sea levels exacerbating the issue. The disparity between Israel, where residents have access to clean water, and the occupied Palestinian territories is emphasized, with the latter facing a water deficit and control over water resources as a form of power.
🏚️ The Struggle for Clean Water in Gaza
This paragraph delves into the daily struggles of Palestinians in Gaza to access clean water, with many unable to afford the luxury of a water tank. It describes the reliance on private enterprises to deliver water, often of questionable hygiene, due to the contaminated public water supply. The paragraph also covers the health risks associated with contaminated water, including increased risks of waterborne diseases, and the political and environmental factors contributing to the crisis.
🌊 Desalination Efforts and Blockade Challenges
The script outlines efforts to address the water crisis in Gaza through the construction of a desalination plant, which aims to convert seawater into potable water. However, the Israeli blockade has caused significant delays in the project, affecting the import of necessary materials. The paragraph also touches on the broader implications of the water crisis, including the impact of climate change and the need for international intervention to alleviate the situation.
🏞️ Disputed Water Rights in the Jordan Valley
This section focuses on the water rights disputes in the Jordan Valley, where Palestinian farmers face challenges due to Israeli control over water infrastructure. It discusses how Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law, contribute to the water scarcity for Palestinians. The paragraph also highlights incidents of settler violence against Palestinian farmers and their water resources, illustrating the power imbalance and the need for international pressure to improve the situation.
🌍 The Looming Threat of Water Shortages
The final paragraph underscores the existential threat posed by water scarcity to both Israel and Palestine, emphasizing the need for cooperation and compromise. It points out the stark contrast in water access between Israelis and Palestinians, with the latter facing severe restrictions and shortages. The script calls for immediate action to ensure the survival of the Palestinian people and the preservation of water resources for future generations.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Israeli occupation
💡Water scarcity
💡Blockade
💡Desalination
💡Waterborne diseases
💡Coastal aquifer
💡Settlements
💡Oslo Accords
💡Dual-use materials
💡International donors
💡Climate change
Highlights
Decades of Israeli occupation have left Palestinians struggling to access clean water.
Israel controls most freshwater resources in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
16-year blockade and military operations have devastated Gaza's water supply.
Rising temperatures and sea levels exacerbate the water crisis in the region.
Israel is a water superpower, controlling water access in the occupied territories.
Gaza's water crisis affects 2 million residents with 97% of water supplies undrinkable.
Private enterprises fill the gap in water supply with unregulated and potentially unsafe water.
Many Gazans spend 33% of their annual income on unclean water.
Waterborne diseases like diarrhea and hepatitis are prevalent due to water contamination.
Gaza's only aquifer is damaged by over-pumping, seawater intrusion, and pollution.
Israel's bombing campaigns have destroyed key water infrastructure in Gaza.
The Israeli blockade impedes the construction of water projects in Gaza.
International donors and governments have stepped in to address the water crisis.
Desalination plants are a potential solution but are delayed due to the blockade.
Israel's control over water resources and infrastructure is a point of conflict.
Settlers' incursions and attacks on water infrastructure affect Palestinian farming communities.
The Oslo Accords recognized Palestinian water rights but infrastructure remains controlled by Israel.
Climate change and over-extraction of water resources pose long-term challenges for the region.
Cooperation and compromise are necessary for sustainable water management in Israel and Palestine.
Transcripts
foreign
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Decades of Israeli occupation have left
Palestinians struggling to access clean
water Israel controls a majority of the
freshwater resources in the occupied
West Bank and in Gaza is 16-year
blockade and military operations have
had a devastating impact on the water
supply Rising temperatures and sea
levels are only making life more
difficult while in Israel residents
don't have to worry about Taps running
dry people in power examines this
growing disparity
thank you
[Music]
the Gaza Strip is a war zone with a
high-speed attack in the last few
minutes how many civilians innocent
civilians have to pay the price for this
madness
no normal country could allow this to
happen Israel had to respond Israel had
to launch this preemptive strike daily
rates daily demolitions the conflict is
again reaching a boiling point power is
running low and thy water is running but
once again as the Palestinian people who
pay the price
water is life
especially in one of the most water
scarce regions in the world
in Israel and the occupied Palestinian
territories millions of people live next
to the Sea
but you can't use sea water for drinking
washing or agriculture
monitoring groups say Israel and the
occupied Palestinian territories have a
water deficit
they use much more water every year than
can be replenished naturally
as temperatures rise and droughts are
drawn out water sources are drying up
whoever controls the water controls the
people diesel kind of Remedy all the
problems but this is the part of a
political decision not to do so
Israel is a water superpower
and Israeli authorities have the power
to turn on and turn off the TAPS in the
occupied Palestinian territories
are like sitting on a Titanic ship
everyone is going to hit the iceberg
[Music]
we're traveling to the eras crossing the
entry point from Israel into Gaza
from here it's a kilometer long walk
from the checkpoint to the place many
call the world's biggest open-air prison
here more than 2 million gazans live at
the water's edge
but according to monitoring groups
around 97 of natural water supplies are
undrinkable
faced with a tainted public water supply
private Enterprise has stepped in to
fill the gap
these trucks are seen all over Gaza
they fill up at an unregulated private
company that takes dirty water and
cleans it up
then they drive around town delivering
it to customers
most of the time was the subject of
suspicious hygienity but it was the only
available resource for for people at
their homes too to drink and to cook the
rotor
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we're riding along with water
distributor Mohammed Ahmed as he
delivers water to residents at the
shorty refugee camp in Gaza City
foreign
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every home that can afford it has a
water tank on top of their building
the water delivery man attaches his hose
then pumps the water into the tank with
a petrol generator
but it comes at a cost
surveys have found that many Gardens
spend 33 percent of their annual income
unclean water
[Music]
um
for some residents of the sharty camp a
water tank is an unaffordable luxury
Muhammad usually fills up their
container free of charge
he's been delivering water to garsens
for 18 years one of the lucky ones with
a steady job
but he tells us he can barely put food
on the table for his four children
gaza's Water Crisis is not new it's been
going on for years
a generation of girls and children have
grown up without adequate access to
water and they're at increased risk from
waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and
hepatitis
rights groups and the UN have estimated
that about a quarter of all disease in
Gaza is caused by water contamination
because of the unique situation of Gaza
and the blockades and the way it's
situated there is I think there's always
a problem with water and water and
sanitation kidney problems like skin
problems some maybe cancer problems well
I think there's a crisis a political
crisis first of course the the blockade
occupation that's the real crisis
gaza's only supply of fresh water is the
underground Coastal aquifer
an aquifer is like an underground sponge
that soaks up groundwater which then
resurfaces through Springs and Wells
but gaza's only aquifer has been badly
damaged raw sewage seeping into the
water supply high levels of nitrates and
rising sea levels have left the fresh
water unusable
sea water has been coming and intruding
to the aquifer most the water wells in
the western part of the city is getting
very saline and cannot be used for
drinking or any other domestic use as
well
the aquifer has been damaged because of
over pumping and seawater intrusion and
pollution from untreated sewage so
there's high level of salt high level of
nitrates you can basically have a shower
in Gaza as if you are taking a dip in
the sea
around a fifth of gaza's untreated
sewage ends up in the coastal aquifer
this River a little way down the coast
from the beach pumps raw sewage into the
sea when the water treatment plant isn't
working due to frequent power cuts
guys and authorities and rights groups
say Israel has destroyed Key Water
infrastructure during its bombing
campaigns
the infrastructure is too old and it's
being hit several times during
escalations every year we have one or
two escalation
in May 2021 we have direct hitting and
damaging the infrastructure causing a
lot of problems to water and this hasn't
been repaired properly yet
this man has one of the most important
jobs on the Gaza Strip he decides which
neighborhoods get water and which don't
uh
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um
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foreign
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Gaza can only provide a fraction of the
water its residents need
so by spinning these wheels he opens and
closes the pipes and tries to divert the
supply to where it's needed most
nearby this laboratory is taking samples
of gaza's water supply to test for
purity
but the results make for Grim reading
the salinity and nitrate levels in the
water are well above the who safety
limit
according to who the sanity the water
should not be more than 500 milligrams
per liter while today and our water TDs
is is more than in some areas five
thousand six thousand milligram per
liter
authorities here say they're doing the
best they can to supply water to as many
households as possible at the moment you
can get water from the tap here for a
few hours a day
but it's mixed with seawater to boost
Supply
faced with a Water Crisis International
donors and governments have stepped in
today we've been invited to the
integration of gaza's new desalination
plant which will take salt water from
the sea and convert it into water that's
safe to drink and washing
this impressive looking plant is
supposed to supply water to 250 000 Gaza
residents
all the movers and shakers of the
International Development Community are
here for the opening
every child has the right to access safe
drinking water is a fundamental right
the Gaza Strip is one of the most
populated area in the world and 96
percent of the Waterfront aquifer is not
for human consumption that's why it's so
important to desalinate the water from
the sea and produce an alternative
source of water
but access to the Gaza Strip is not easy
the blockade means construction projects
like this are slow coming
this plant is opening seven years behind
schedule
this project is only two years
Construction in terms of design
tendering and construction but because
of
the delay on Pringle materials into Gaza
by the Israel side and and giving a long
time of security clearance this project
witnessed such such years of disease the
Israeli blockade means projects such as
this are beset by delays and
difficulties mainly because it's almost
impossible to import dual use materials
into Gaza materials that the Israelis
say could be used for military purposes
yeah it wasn't easy I mean as you know
in may we experienced the flare-up of
violence a every other year or so an
even more regularly unfortunately we
have military escalations and that of
course stops to a large extent any kind
of activity including the import of
machine equipment from Israel the
Israeli Authority responsible for
security in Gaza declined to be
interviewed for this program
but they said in a statement
most of these projects involve the entry
of Dual Purpose Goods pipes dangerous
materials advanced technology and more
which pose great complications because
the terror organizations Hamas foremost
among them cynically exploit the entry
of such materials for the purpose of
advancing terrorism against the state of
Israel
I've been speaking to a lot of
Palestinians on this story and they all
say the same thing they need the
International Community to put pressure
on Israel to end the blockade and to
improve their lives they want you to do
more why aren't you doing more first of
all we are doing a lot
well of course as you rightly pointed
out the solution has to be political
it's not sufficient for us to address
climate change and not sufficient to us
to ease the restrictions from Israel we
need to have the end of your occupation
we need so many things we need pressure
on the International Community not just
to you the U.S the gulf and engagement
financing needs are huge we're talking
about billions and billions of dollars
and Euros why Israel was able to satisfy
its water leaves by desalinating the
water for the entire population they
have an extra water we can do the same
thing here in Gaza but it needs far more
political space to do that
the buzzword for Israelis is security
imagine 2 million people deprived of
water
deprived of travel deprived of
economic growth
deprived of any prospects
what do you expect of people who are
living under an open-air prison
does this reflect on Israeli security
the water situation in Gaza is already
dire but there's an even bigger threat
on the horizon a warming planet is
changing weather patterns all over the
world especially here
this hotel on the shores of the Dead Sea
used to attract tourists from around the
world
these days it's a wasteland
the place was a vivid place it used to
host Arabs from All Nations
Europeans everyone here used to come and
sit right there to sip their coffee by
the Dead Sea because the water was
literally at this Edge that you can see
here
since the 1950s the freshwater sources
that feed into the Dead Sea have been
diverted for drinking water and
irrigation
and the water line has receded
dramatically this once seaside resort
has now found itself almost half a
kilometer away from the disappearing sea
we're like sitting on a Titanic ship
there's people who are on the first
class luxury space
sipping champagne in the ballrooms but
once the iceberg hit the Titanic
everybody sinks
Israel could have the best technology in
the world
for desalination and for wastewater
treatment
but when it comes to having a thirsty
neighbor
it's all gonna hit
the iceberg everyone is going to hit the
iceberg
we're traveling to the Jordan Valley
here water is a shared resource in a
divided land
in the 1990s Israeli and Palestinian
leaders signed the Oslo Accords which
recognized the Palestinians right to
water and promised them greater access
to Water Resources
but the water infrastructure is almost
entirely controlled by Israel
suhair's family has farmed in the Jordan
Valley for Generations
she says that now the town's water
resources are being taken by Israeli
authorities
[Music]
foreign
settlements in the occupied Palestinian
territories are considered illegal under
international law
but in 2023 Israel's government said it
would approve thousands of new settler
homes in the occupied West Bank
[Music]
but it's not just the Israeli State
that's limiting Palestinian access to
water emboldened Israeli settlers are
taking matters into their own hands
farmers in anzamia a natural spring near
Ramallah Say incursions by settlers some
of them armed are happening almost daily
foreign
[Music]
the frequent incursions by illegal
Israeli settlers have sent shockwaves
through this small community
Farmers say they're being forced to
abandon their lands and their spring
without water they can no longer Farm
here
damages
inside you can't see here
why would why would people do this
because they have the power
they have the power with her cannot we
haven't anything to defense ourselves
ourselves they can do it without
punishment
this is the reason
a local farmer shows me the damage from
the latest raid he says the settlers
punctured their water tanks with knives
destroyed crops and stole their
irrigation systems
the people who were here are poor
Farmers they work too hard to feed
theirselves and their families
and suddenly we are attacked by settlers
this land is controlled by the
Palestinian Authority but they say
they're powerless to stop the attacks on
the water infrastructure we've spoken to
many farmers in Palestine and they feel
that nobody is protecting them isn't it
your job to protect them
media
foreign
pools in the occupied West Bank
this was once the main water source for
Jerusalem
for farmers who live here illegal
settlements are a troubling presence on
the horizon
La Quinta is
Fadi says this community has been
decimated by a lack of access to water
and competition from subsidized Israeli
products
today with dwindling access to water
many Palestinian Farmers here have
abandoned their land and gone to work as
day laborers in Israel
Israel's government told us in a
statement in accordance with the
international agreements responsibility
for supplying water to the Palestinian
residents throughout Judea and Samaria
lies with the Palestinian Authority
there is no policy of preventing water
from reaching the Palestinians
the conflict between Israel and
Palestine is often portrayed as a
conflict where both sides are to blame
but there's no equivalence when it comes
to access to water the facts speak for
themselves Israel controls more than 80
percent of all water resources in the
occupied West Bank and any Israeli
doesn't experience any water shortage I
can open my water tap
and can come back a week later and still
have water but no Palestinians can even
imagine such a situation
100 of Israelis have access to daily
running water compared with just 36
percent of Palestinians
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the new illegal settlements promised in
the occupied West Bank by Israel's
government if built would drain yet more
Palestinian Water Resources
it is important for us to to act today
it's a matter of survival
we are over abstracting the aquifers to
replenish the demands of today
but we're not drinking the water of our
grandchildren we're drinking the water
of our own children
as temperatures rise and water becomes
even more scarce both Israel and
Palestine will face existential
challenges that go far beyond border
disputes the only solution is
cooperation and compromise neither will
be easy to achieve
but if nothing is done the Palestinian
people could lose access to their most
vital lifeline
[Music]
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